Puberty's Wild Ride

"Puberty's Wild Ride" is a book about you: your changing body, your growing mind, your sexuality, your safety, your friends, family, school and community. On its pages you'll get the facts, in short easy-to-read articles. You'll also get to explore your feelings, in the think-and-respond activities that accompany many articles. Make this book your friendly guide-and enjoy the ride!

"Chances are the person sitting next to you in class is either more developed than you, or less developed than you are. It's actually quite normal to wonder, "Are we both 'normal'?"

The answer is almost always "yes". Each person starts puberty at a different time and changes at a different speeds. And whether you go through puberty early or late has nothing to do with how your adult body will look and perform when it's fully formed.

If puberty hasn't begun for you, and you're worried about it, talk with your doctor or other health care professional. A trained person can find out whether you are maturing normally. He or she wil look at the development of your sex organs, and may also take X-rays of your wrists and other bones. It may be possible to predict roughly when you will enter puberty.

You could also ask your parents when they started puberty. You are likely to start about the same age....."