When Does A Child Become A Teenager?

by Teresa McEntire | More from this Blogger

24 May 2006 03:00 PM

It used to be that a teenager was a child whose age ended with the suffix "teen". Yet today many parents are finding that their 10 and 11 year olds are acting like teenagers. In today's technology world children are bombarded with adult information from the television, Internet, and movies. These influences along with peer groups and environmental pressures are forcing children to grow up faster. Take a look at the girls clothing department and you will see that the fashions mimic those of teenage girls.

Yet the cause isn't completely environmental. A recent study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that the physical changes of puberty occur in girls as young as age 7 or 8 - three years earlier than the trend for puberty over the past 30 years. This means that your daughter at age 7 or 8 is at the same level you were at age 10 or 11. Since hormones greatly affect behavior it is no wonder that your "little girl" is acting so grown up. Boys have not seen a change in their puberty age, but that doesn't mean that they won't try to mimic the teenage behaviors they see in the media or from older siblings.

The actual onset of adolescence is marked by puberty. Physical signs of puberty for boys are: facial or chest hair, deepening voice, signs of increased awareness of sexuality. Girls begin puberty with the onset of menstruation and breast development.

With the physical changes of puberty occurring earlier for girls you will probably need to have that mother-daughter talk a few years earlier than you did as a child. It is important to discuss the emotional and physical changes that occur with puberty before they happen.

For both boys and girls it is a good idea to start discussing rules and consequences for behavior before the teenage years. Set rules for things like: dating, boy/girl relationships, schoolwork, curfew, and discuss the consequences of premarital sex, drug and alcohol abuse, and smoking. As a parent you may have hoped to put off discussing these subjects until your child was actually a teenager, but by then it might be too late.

Learn more about Teresa McEntire

Teresa McEntire grew up in Utah the oldest of four children. She currently lives in Kuna, Idaho, near Boise. She and her husband Gene have been married for almost ten years.

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