Boys will experience the emergence of facial hair, a deepening of the voice, muscle development and a broadening of the shoulders. Girls will become women as their breasts develop, waistlines narrow and hips widen. There is no question that the most exciting and confusing physical change occurring at puberty is the body's new reproductive abilities. The external genitals enlarge. Boys begin to produce sperm.
Girls begin to ovulate and menstruate.
The wonderful God-given gift of sexuality takes centre stage with all of its newly discovered drives, feelings, and sensations. Be sensitive and affirming as your teen's body changes. Children need parents and other significant adults who will openly explain and discuss what is happening to their bodies. We live in a world that constantly sets unrealistic standards regarding physical beauty and only a handful make the grade. Most of these changes occur during the early high school years, when acceptance by others is of the utmost importance and when peers tend to be most cruel and insensitive.