Puberty

During late childhood a child builds the skills of reading, writing, arithmetic, playing with friends and thinking independently. Then comes a time when, within only a few years, the body suddenly grows taller, the voice changes, the shape of the body starts to look like an adult's, and new feelings arise in the mind. This period of life is called puberty.

The English word puberty comes from the Latin word Puberts, which means "age of manhood": the age at which a person begins to become a grown human being. The name itself tells us what the stage is about. It is the point where a boy or a girl steps onto the road towards adulthood.

Puberty usually begins at about 11 or 12 years of age and lasts until about 15 or 16. The timing is a little different for girls and boys. For girls, the period from 11 or 12 to 15 years is called puberty; for boys, it is the period from 12 or 13 to 16 years. In other words, girls usually enter these changes about a year earlier than boys. This is why some girls in class 6 or 7 look taller than boys of the same age, and there is nothing strange about it.

In this stage the features of childhood gradually disappear and the features of adulthood begin to show. Physical growth becomes very fast. The sex organs and the body parts linked with them change most quickly and most visibly. These bodily changes do not stay in the body alone. A child who watches their own body changing may feel shy, afraid, worried, curious or confused. So the physical and sexual changes of puberty also bring psychological effects, which means effects on the mind and the feelings.

These effects on the mind do not have to grow into a crisis. When a child is given a supportive environment, the advice they need, suggestions, guidance, encouragement, and love and affection, the psychological crisis that might arise can be made much smaller.

What a child in puberty needs most is someone who will listen and show the right way. So in this stage teachers, parents and guardians should play the role of a counsellor. A counsellor is a person who, instead of scolding or frightening, tries to understand the problem, gives advice and helps the young person make good decisions. For example, a teacher can reassure a student who is too shy to speak in class because their voice is breaking that this is a natural change that happens to everyone. A mother can calmly explain to her daughter what is happening when she has her first period.

Puberty begins during late childhood and is completed within adolescence. Although it lasts only a short time, it is a stage of fast growth and change. It has six main characteristics:

On a tiled roof, the edge of each tile lies over the edge of the next, so that strip belongs to both tiles at once. Puberty is like that strip. It is the stage where late childhood and adolescence overlap. It carries the qualities and features of the last years of late childhood and of the first years of adolescence together. That is why a child of this age may one day want to play like a small child and the next day insist on making their own decisions like a grown-up.

Compared with the other stages of life, puberty is short. Because it runs only from about 11 or 12 to about 15 or 16 years of age, it lasts from two to four years. This is why it is considered a short stage. So much happens in so little time that everything seems to change very fast. A child who joins class 6 may look almost like a different person by the time they reach class 9 or 10.

Short as it is, puberty is divided into three parts. That is why it is called a divided stage. The three parts are:

• (a) Early puberty: the part in which the sexual characteristics begin
• (b) Puberty: the middle part, between the beginning and the end
• (c) Late puberty: the part in which those sexual characteristics reach maturity

In puberty there is rapid growth and development on all four sides of a person: physical, mental, emotional and social. These changes do not happen by themselves. They are started by a small gland inside the brain, and the process moves forward in this order:

• The pituitary gland becomes active: as puberty begins, the pituitary gland in the child's brain starts working actively.
• Growth hormone is produced: as a result, growth hormone starts to be made and the body grows quickly.
• The sex organs become active: in the same way, sex hormones start to make the sex organs active.
• An adult look appears: as a result, boys and girls start to look like grown-ups.
• New signs appear: girls have their first menstrual period and boys have wet dreams.

Menstruation, or a period, is the natural process in which blood flows out through a girl's vagina for a few days, roughly once a month. A girl's very first period is an important sign that she is growing up. A wet dream is when semen comes out of a boy's body while he is asleep. Neither of these is an illness. Both are natural signs that the body is becoming adult.

From the very start of puberty, the physical and mental changes make boys and girls feel uncomfortable. A boy who has suddenly grown tall does not know what to do with his long arms and legs. A boy whose voice is breaking is shy to read aloud in class. A girl whose body is changing feels awkward in front of her friends. Experiences like these bring negative effects. In this stage, boys and girls may:

• (a) feel detached, losing interest even in things that used to be fun;
• (b) sit about bored and irritated, getting annoyed at small things and keeping to themselves;
• (c) even go as far as making unwise decisions in anger or disappointment, choices they later regret.

This is why puberty is called a negative stage. The negativity does not last forever, and a supportive environment, advice and counselling can reduce it a great deal.

The characteristics of puberty show up at different ages. Puberty may not come at the same age or in the same order for every child. In some it comes early, in some late, and in others at the average age. Of two friends in the same class, one may start shooting up at 11 while the other still looks the same at 14. The main reasons for this are:

• Heredity: the qualities passed down from parents and ancestors
• The environment the child grows up in
• The family and economic background
• Nutritious food
• The child's state of health

At every stage of life some changes should take place and some abilities should be gained. Just as late childhood has its developmental tasks, puberty has its own.

The developmental tasks of children in puberty are these:

• (a) The signs of childhood gradually fade away and the signs of adulthood gradually begin to appear.
• (b) Early sexual maturity is reached and the first ability to have children is gained.
• (c) The body takes on its male or female form and the signs of difference between the sexes appear.
• (d) Girls have their first period and boys have wet dreams.
• (e) Each young person becomes aware of, and careful about, their own role as a male or a female.

Teachers, parents and guardians should keep these developmental tasks in mind. If the natural changes expected in a child have not come, the adults should pay attention to it and create a suitable environment for that child.