Hormones, Puberty & Your Child: 'Old Hat' Victorian Attitudes Are Getting Our Teens Into Trouble

DO YOU KNOW THE 'HOW?' & 'WHY?' OF PUBERTY

Many people find it difficult to speak about puberty and growing up. Many of us want our children to be small for the rest of our lives. Regardless of how we feel or think, our children will enter puberty, and then start on their journey to adulthood. It is far better to join them on the journey, to grow and learn together, this will create a bonding that will be unsurpassed by many other experiences. Having been a teacher for over forty years, and a mum for a bit longer than that, and while teaching many subjects including psychology, and then turning my hand to sex education, and teaching that to many pubertal teens, was in its way, an exciting progression easily linking up with psychology. The excitement really took off as I taught sex or puberty education, when the realisation came, I was only teaching part of a subject in puberty education. Within the information I was working to, there was little to no mention of hormones. My research begun and the digging into information that would tie hormones and puberty onset together took place. Then the next dilemma, how can I present a chemical image of a hormone to nine-to-eleven-year-old young adults or teens? Of course, that wasn't going to work. I was sitting at my desk and doodling on my computer, and the first hormone shape appeared that was the growth hormone. From that moment on, together with the research, my 'Changes' books for pubertal teens became a journey of fun and learning for me. We now have the characters of Hormones with Hats, which help in the progression of learning while taking away the intimidation and embarrassment of the subject. Please enjoy the journey and love the moments, as you and your teen enjoy the going forward together.