7 year old Tara was a happy-go-lucky child, until one day her mom noticed that something was wrong. Tara would get teary-eyed over anything and everything at all. Plus, she began avoiding all her sleeveless clothes. Her mom brought up the topic one day, and Tara broke down once again, screaming that she didn’t want to speak about it. Finally, however, she did calm down and discuss things with her mother. She confessed to having hair growing in her armpits. She was shocked, because her body felt different. She craved to be like the other hairless girls in her class, but she wasn’t like them anymore. She just didn’t fit in.
Tara’s mother, on the other hand, was in for a culture shock, because she hadn’t imagined discussing puberty-related issues with her daughter until she was 9 or 10. She was caught by surprise when she realized the truth behind her daughter’s early puberty.
HOW MUCH TRUTH IS THERE TO IT?
On reading health stories about the dipping ages of puberty, the skeptical scientists began their research to demystify this entire event. As expected, most of them began to blame it on the lifestyle being led in the U.S.A. The obesity levels were high, there was over-exposure to television and computers which led to a sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical activity, and too much meat.
An intensive study was conducted at the University of Copenhagen, by some of the most respected names in the field. This study concluded that the age at which children hit puberty has dropped in a short time. They now begin to mature physically much sooner than they used to in the previous generation. In girls, the age difference seems stark. They now begin to mature at the age of 10 rather than the 11, that it was earlier. For boys, however, the change was seen to reach around 4 months earlier than their predecessors.
There have been studies conducted in Holland and Italy, which have helped confirm these findings. A lot of endocrinologists (doctors specialized in hormones) have reported that it is true – more children come in to them now with complaints of early puberty.
DOCTOR SPEAKS
Dr. Richard Stanhope has been with the London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital for more than 20 years now. He said that the change, according to him, has begun to create hordes of problems for the children. This is because they are now physically mature at an age, when they can deal with it psychologically.
Stanhope is of the belief that children who are hit by early puberty are the ones who are generally more vulnerable to issues like teenage pregnancy and sexual abuse.
On the other hand, however, early signs of puberty in boys has a different story to tell. These kids are more likely to indulge in binge-drinking, drug scandals and activities that are unlawful. Given the fact that the testosterone levels in their body are heightened all of a sudden, they tend to become aggressive, and they are rendered incapable of controlling their impulses.
Keep abreast of the changes that are happening in your child; and be prepared to take care of the situation. Puberty, is but, an entirely natural phenomenon, but being aware can help cover a lot of psychological hurdles.
