Love Walks In...Ready or Not
Most adults associate romance and sex, so if the first thing you think
about when you hear the word ‘romance’, is sex, no worries, you are not alone.
Welcome to some of the few pages on this site that is going to talk about sex,
puberty, and development as openly as possible. If you have already a
conversation about these topics with your parents, great-the information
provided will only reinforce what you already know. Tell them about this
website as well. If for some reason, you do not talk about sex, growth, and
development with your parents, we hope you find these pages informative, but
still tell your parents about this website.
Developing physically and emotionally from childhood to adulthood isn’t
easy. You go through so many different changes, from school and friends, to the
ways in which you socialize. For example, your birthday celebration at 10 is
different from your celebration at 15 or 20 years old. Discovering about
sexuality, your own and other people's, and discovering what it means to you is
a key part of becoming an adult.
Although everyone is different, we all go through
puberty and adolescence. Some reach puberty at 10 or 11 years while others do
not experience it until they are 15 or 16, or maybe even later. Because men and women’s physical bodies
differ, there are gender differences too. Puberty may be both confusing and
frustrating. Anyone who has risen to a pimple on their face, or been confused
by the opposite sex knows that. Coping with the physical changes may be
both exciting and embarrassing, for both boys and girls, while the emotional changes can seem a
bit perplexing. Teenagers may also feel self conscious and worried about what
others will think of them, at times.
The changes occurr in everyone, but they begin at different times. Generally the changes start later for boys than girls. In some people they start before the age of 10. Other people will only start to change after the age of 14. The changes also take place at a different rate in different people. In some people all the changes take place in a 2 year period of time. In other people they can take as long as 4 -5 years. Puberty begins when extra amounts of chemicals called hormones start to be produced in the body. These hormones guide the changes that take place in the body. Men and women have hormones that are the same, but men produce more testosterone and women produce more estrogen. As well as causing physical changes, these hormones also cause emotional changes to occur.
