A Preteen or pre-teen refers to a stage of human developmentHuman development may refer to: * Human development (biology) * "Human development (psychology)" or developmental psychology ** Occasionally, it may refer to both of the above two meanings, but because each of these is an immense field of study, few if any contemporary academic discussions attempt to tackle both in a comprehensive way. More typically, psychologists ...human development during childhoodChildhood (being a child) is a broad term usually applied to the phase of development in humans between infancy and adulthood.childhood. Typically a preteen is from eight years old to twelve years old and is not yet adolescentAdolescence (Latin adolescentia, from adolescere, to grow up) is the period of psychological, social, and physical transition between childhood and adulthood (gender-specific, manhood or womanhood).adolescent (that is, has not yet entered pubertyPuberty refers to the process of physical changes by which a child's body becomes an adult body capable of reproduction. Puberty is initiated by hormone signals from the brain to the gonads (the ovaries and testes). In response, the gonads produce a variety of hormones that stimulate the growth, function, or transformation of ...puberty).