| Puberty can be a difficult time for children. | | | | Bodily changes are more evident for girls are |
| Not quite kids anymore and not really | | | | accompanied by huge mood swings, which can be |
| adolescents they are caught in the middle in | | | | disconcerting fro parents. The onset of |
| type of limbo. It is a sad time for many | | | | puberty is not so obvious for boys. The first |
| young people too. Many look back at their | | | | physical sign boys may notice is the |
| childhood and realise that they can never | | | | enlargement of the testes, followed by growth |
| really act the same way yet they look ahead | | | | of pubic hair. Testosterone, the male |
| and realise that adolescence will present | | | | hormone, also affects mood swings but it |
| them with its own peculiar | | | | arguably leads to increased energy and |
| challenges.Children are reaching adolescence | | | | boisterousness. Many parents discover that |
| earlier than ever. The World Health | | | | their pre-teen son delights in wrestling with |
| Organisation estimates that in developing | | | | siblings or even his father in what is a sort |
| countries puberty begins about three months | | | | of test of strength. Paradoxically, many |
| earlier every ten years. It is a stage when | | | | early teen boys need more sleep and eat |
| the maturity gap between girls and boys is | | | | parents out of house and home.Pre teens have |
| quite evident - about two years.Puberty is a | | | | a need for greater privacy so they spend more |
| time of immense body changes. The male and | | | | and more time in bedrooms, locked in |
| sex hormones are different and set off | | | | bathrooms or arguing with younger siblings |
| different development in girls and boys. | | | | about personal space. |