Chuck Stinnett, age 11, of E1 Cajon, Calif., for his question:
WHAT IS PUBERTY?
Between the ages of 13 and 19 a person is known as a teen ager. It is during this period of time that new vistas are opened: new friends are made, fresh social functions are made available and new experiences are met. The teen years can be happy, exciting and carefree, but they can also be filled with problems as the transition is made between childhood and adulthood.
As a young person in his teens grows both emotionally and physically he goes through a period of development known as adolescence. And adolescence marks the beginning of puberty, that period during which a child matures physically.
Puberty is the time of rapid growth that marks the end of childhood and the beginning of physical and sexual maturity. Both the bodies and the feelings of boys and girls change during this period of time.
Entering puberty, most girls are taller and grow faster than boys the same age. But boys soon start their rapid growing and catch up with the girls. Some boys and girls mature several years earlier or later than others in the same age bracket.
As the girl matures, her breasts become rounded out and her hips become wider. At about this time most girls start to menstruate.
As a boy moves into puberty, his shoulders usually broaden, he gets stronger and his voice becomes deeper. Hair also starts to grow on his face, under the arms and around the genitals.
At the beginning of puberty, most young people mainly associate with members of their own sex. There's a kinship among those who are going through the same changes. But as they mature and become surer of themselves, young people become more interested in members of the opposite sex.
As they continue through their adolescent years, boys and girls gradually learn how to get along in more grown up ways with people of both sexes and of all ages. It is part of the maturing process. They adjust to the bodily changes they have been experiencing during puberty, and they learn to become more independent and to make many of their own decisions. And they also find new ways of developing their relationships with members of the opposite sex.
Boys and girls, for the most part, play together and go to school together throughout their childhood. During the teen years, the boy girl relationships become more important and more complicated, but the emotional maturity that is developing helps most teen agers to establish new relationships without too many problems.
Group activities offer teen agers excellent opportunities to develop social graces.