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Home › Articles › Appearance › Puberty Primer

Puberty Primer

What to Expect and
When to Expect It

By Valerie K. O'Berry

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As puberty continues, kids will experience growth spurts (approximately 25 percent of adult height is gained in puberty), hormonal changes, the onset of menstruation in girls and hair growth (including the armpits and pubic areas).

"Parents often have concerns about whether their child is starting puberty too early or too late or whether she is progressing normally; but it is all very individual," says Dr. Jennifer Johnson, pediatrician and chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics' adolescent health section.

On average, girls will start menstruating two years after the first signs of puberty (breast development), with the national average age being 12. However, it is normal for girls to begin their periods anywhere between the ages of 9 and 14. Boys typically won't reach physical maturity until the age of 16 or 17.

What to Expect

In addition to obvious physical changes, your preteen is also changing psychologically. The way he thinks, and ultimately acts, will seem foreign to you as a parent. If your child begins to hide things, for example, what he is really saying is, "I know you won't approve of what I want to do, so I won't tell you."

"The child you have today is not the one you had yesterday and won't be the child you'll have tomorrow," Nicholson says. "Fortunately, adolescence is not another word for 'crazy.' Only a small percentage are really far out."

Dust says that one of her teens became obsessed with a boy, wet to jail and almost drove her crazy.


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