Of all the stages in human development, it’s hard to think of one more monumental than puberty. It marks the age at which children reach sexual maturity, and serves as a symbolic marker for the transition between childhood and adulthood. Puberty ushers in a number of changes to both the body and brain, sending children’s hormones on a wild ride in the process.
Puberty can be a tumultuous time for children and parents alike, especially in cultures such as ours that take an adversarial approach towards children’s sexual development. Having been taught that childhood and sexuality must never mix, told that we must battle any sort of exposure to sex wherein children are concerned, and conditioned with the idea that sexuality is an evil thing that tarnishes children and steals their innocence, we certainly don’t make this transition easy on ourselves. Many parents struggle to incorporate the changes puberty brings into the mental templates they’ve formed about their child, especially if puberty comes calling earlier than expected.
It’s no easier for kids: After having been shamed over all things sexual in their early years, scolded for sex play or nudity, and taught to think of their sexual aspects as something embarrassing, shameful and wrong, children must now cope with changes that bring all those insecurities front and center. They must now learn to incorporate these sexual characteristics into a healthy self-identity. This is no easy task for kids who grow up in repressive Western cultures. Puberty thus becomes a painful process that many youth struggle with.
Information to help parents & their kids through puberty
The resources herein will help parents and children better deal with the changes of puberty, (or at least better understand them), both the physical aspects and some of the psychological ones as well.
- Do teenage girls need a pap smear test?
- Is it normal for an adolescent boy to develop “breasts?”
- When Do Children Start Puberty?