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Learning Objective/s
Describe puberty
explain the physical, emotional, intellectual, and social changes during puberty;
cite how to take care of the body during puberty.
Success Criteria
Students not only acquire factual information about puberty but also develop important life skills and attitudes that promote their physical, emotional, and social well-being during this transitional period in their lives.
Discussions
The Stage of Puberty
Puberty is that period in your life when you start to leave childhood and move on to become a teenager. The single most important sign that someone has entered this
stage is when girls start to have their monthly period called menstruation or when boys start to have their wet dreams. These are signs that you have reached sexual maturity.
Additionally, there are more changes that you should understand and be aware of in order to adapt to the puberty stage. These changes include the following:
Physical Changes During Puberty
At puberty, boys and girls experience changes in their bodies. These are some of the physical changes:
1. Rapid increase in height and weight. Girls gain weight after their first menstruation and boys after the age of 16 or 17.
2. Nose, hands, and feet begin to grow big.
3. Shoulders and hips become broad.
4. As they grow taller, the hips, thighs, and legs become longer.
5. A few fine and light-colored hairs begin to grow in the armpits and in the area of the reproductive organs, which later on becomes dark in color, coarse, and thick.
6. The skin becomes light in color. It becomes stretched, thus the pores are noticeable.
7. The tone of voice changes in both sexes. For the boys, the tone becomes low- pitched, while that of the girls becomes melodious.
8. Boys’ muscles become firmer and more prominent, giving curves to their legs and shoulders.
9. Girls’ breasts become enlarged and the nipples begin to grow bigger.
10. The skin becomes oily, making them prone to pimples and body odor. This is because sebaceous glands that produce oil and the apocrine glands that produce perspiration become active.
Since these physical changes happen fast, most boys and girls find it hard to adjust right away giving rise to feelings of guilt, fear, shyness, and insecurity.
All these changes in girls prepare them to become mothers in the future, while changes in boys prepare them to become fathers.
Parents and adults should assure teenagers that they shouldn’t ever feel guilty
about these changes. Everyone undergoes these changes when they reach these stages.
Emotional Changes During Puberty
Emotional changes refer to a wide range of feelings that every boy or girl experiences during puberty. During childhood, emotions tend to be limited. During puberty, these become more varied, from feelings of fear and guilt to feelings of insecurity and shyness.
With rapid physical changes, some emotional changes also occur. Some of these are the following:
1. Both become sensitive to what others say about them, especially their physical appearance. Because of this sensitivity, they exhibit feelings of guilt, anger, shyness, and irritability depending on how they and others react to their physical appearance.
2. Oftentimes, a feeling of insecurity about their bodies makes them withdraw from others or makes them irritable and aggressive. Sometimes, parents and other members of the family cannot understand them. At times, they themselves are also confused about their own behavior.
3. Other than a range of emotions, boys and girls tend to be intense in their feelings. Loyalty to friends can be so deep that one who belongs to a clique or barkada stays with the group no matter what happens.
Intellectual Changes During Puberty
In Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development, boys and girls are now moving from a concrete operational toward a formal operational stage. This is characterized by the following intellectual abilities:
1. The level of reasoning becomes more organized.
This means that you can think of logical reasons to explain things that are happening around you. You do not just admit the reasoning of others but you come up with valid reasons on the whys of things or events.
2. Arguments are supported by reasoning.
Since your reasoning is more organized, you can now enter into an argument which you defend with your own line of thinking.
3. A symbol system of language and mathematics starts to be operated.
You can now understand real things around even without their presence and without having to see, hear, touch, or feel their presence. The use of words as symbols to represent a thing is enough to be able to visualize in your mind what is it all about. For instance, you can visualize in your mind the word minus or plus as symbol of subtraction or addition or the words “Internet” and “surfing” as things and processes that you can actually do.
4. The capability to socialized thinking is practiced by seeing the point of
view of others.
When before you can only see your own point of view, now you can see the point of view of others. For instance, you see and try to understand both sides in a discussion. You can weigh both sides of an issue and decide which side has a more logical reason. The ability to see the point of view of others enables you to win more friends because you can understand their thinking.
Social Changes During Puberty
Together with physical, emotional, and intellectual changes are changes that occur
in relationship with others. The following are some social changes:
1. Social circle becomes wide. This means that you begin to establish a
relationship with others outside of your family. You begin to have more friends
and acquaintances in school, in church, and in the community.
2. Interests in games and sports, in dancing, and in singing begins to widen. You begin going out with friends to attend parties, social gatherings, picnics, and outings; seeing movies; eating out; and even going together to church or school.
3. Social activities with the family becomes limited. Due to a wider social circle outside of the home, you become busy going along with others, joining them in many activities. As a result of this, more time is devoted outside and less time is spent at home and with the family.
Proper Care of the Body During Menstruation
It is important to remember that the age of puberty is the age when girls have their onset of menstruation and boys have their wet dreams, and these are signs that both are reaching reproductive maturity. This means that, biologically, both are ready to become mothers and fathers in the future.
As a result of the sudden changes that take place at the onset of menstruation for girls and circumcision for boys, care must be taken on the proper ways of caring for their bodies.
The onset of menstruation in girls can cause various physical and psychological symptoms such as:
1. headache
2. hyperacidity
3. backaches
4. pains in the hips and shoulders
5. restlessness
6. tantrums
7. stomach cramps
The symptoms mentioned on the previous page are sometimes called premenstrual syndrome. Girls experience different symptoms. Regardless of what symptoms you feel, it is important that you know what to do before menstruation occurs. Enough rest and, oftentimes, pain relievers for those who are experiencing pain are the most common remedies taken for premenstrual syndrome. In addition, proper hygiene should be observed in dealing with menstruation. Today, different kinds and sizes of sanitary napkins are available in the market. You can choose the kind that fits you best. Most of the time, menstruation normally occurs for a duration of three days. It is important to change the sanitary napkin once the feeling of wetness is there. This may be done once or twice a day depending on the flow of menstruation. It is advisable to change often to avoid the feeling of discomfort and unpleasant smell of menstrual wastes. It is also advisable to carefully wrap each used napkin in a piece of paper and then properly dispose of it in the garbage can. This is part of good hygiene.
Old people believe that a girl is not supposed to take a bath during her menstruation as this might affect her state of mind and might be the cause of infection. Although there is no scientific basis for this practice, some would still follow this for fear that such consequences might be true. Today, doctors and well-informed parents find no reason why taking a bath should be prohibited. In fact, taking a full warm bath adds to the feeling of being clean, refreshed, relaxed, and comfortable. However, proper care must still be taken when taking a bath.
Proper Care of the Body During Circumcision
Circumcision in boys is the act of cutting the foreskin of the boy’s reproductive organ, and this is done for hygienic purposes. This is a tradition influenced by the Jews a long time ago as a spiritual ritual and does not in any way affect the boys’ capacity for reproduction. When newly circumcised, there is a need to exercise caution and to observe absolute cleanliness for fast healing. In many cases, very loose pants or long skirts are worn temporarily to allow comfort and convenience of movement and to lessen pain and skin irritation. To avoid infection, change pants or skirt and wash the wound with antiseptic, and then bind it with a very clean gauze. Avoid playing or promenading outside the house to avoid catching dirt. Take sufficient rest, drink plenty of water, and eat balanced meals.
Cross Curricular Link
Art
Self-Portraits: Have learners create self-portraits that depict themselves before and after puberty, reflecting their changing physical features and emotions.
Math
Age Comparisons: Compare the ages at which different physical changes typically occur
Real- Life Application
Have a positive impact on various aspects of an individual's life, from physical health to emotional well-being and interpersonal relationships.
Evaluation
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