Stages Of Life
Essay by 24 • November 19, 2010 • 1,119 Words (5 Pages) • 2,169 Views
Raising your pre- teens was never supposed to be this scary. In today’s world,
your thirteen year old is constantly bombarded with issues like the confusion that comes
with their changing bodies, their irrational mood swings, lust for privacy, and their
struggle to obtain and prove their independence. There is that struggle to balance that part
of themselves that wants to remain a child with the peer pressure that makes an
adolescent engage in risky behaviors, like the sex, drugs, violence, and alcohol perils that
they are exposed to. The parents, (whether married or divorced, another key factor in
an adolescent's growth,) are the single most influential people in that individual's life.
Let's face it, no child came with an instruction book. These adolescent years are filled
with much joy and triumphs, but just as much pain and tears.
The term adolescence itself, or rather, its meaning, is difficult to define.
At what point exactly does it actually start? It is stated in my text book, Human
Development Across a Lifespan, (pg 277) that adolescence is the onset of sharp rises in
the production of the four hormones that affect sexuality: progesterone and estrogen in
females; and testosterone and androgen in males. It is often marked by the physical
changes that take place. Adolescence is a stage in life when the body grows and changes
more dramatically than any other time. These changes in their bodies, often referred to as
puberty, are what tend to make adolescence awkward, embarrassing, or even frightening.
In young women, the most obvious physical change is the first of her periods,
called menarche. Before hand, she will have developed breasts and pubic hair . Her body
may have become softer, curvier, a bit more round… all of these changes may cause her
to become self conscious of her body.
In boys, they have grown some facial, chest, under arm and pubic hair. They will
experience the beginning of a growth spurt, the average age being twelve, but the
maximum growth spurt is slow to occur. Their first ejaculation is viewed with the same
significance as that of a young girl’s menarche. The early voice change is often the most
humiliating part of it all. My own nephew hated the way his voice would suddenly
become high pitched or crack mid-sentence. He lived with us for about a year and by the
time he went home for the summer, he was a different person. He had “filled out”, losing
most of his baby fat, as boys tend to do, and had become a bit muscular. When he left, he
spoke with a deep voice and was half a foot taller.
Adolescence is also the time often referred to as an emotional roller coaster.
Because the physical changes are the most obvious sign of maturation, little emphasis is
placed on the cognitive development that takes place. It is a stage in development when
hormones run rampant, which triggers the irrational mood swings that pre-teens are
famous
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