“Understanding the Young Adolescent’s Physical and Cognitive Growth”

“Young adolescent development does not follow a strict timeline. Individual differences occur both between and within each gender.”

This quote addresses one of the most important issues that educators and parents must keep in their minds when working with adolescents. There are so many changes and growth that are occurring in the bodies of adolescents, that often, adolescents themselves are confused and even scared. Hormones are often added into the mix with the arrival of periods and breast development for girls and wet dreams and body hair for boys and growth spurts as well at different time intervals for each child. This can create a sense of insecurity for young adolescents, which may be expressed through emotional outbreaks, obsession with mirrors and self images, and small rebellions among other things. Parents and teachers should understand the changes that adolescents are going through and act as guides to help them in this transition and to be a source of accurate information for the young adolescents. Additionally, as the reading had warned, adults need to also keep in mind that regardless of how “mature” or “adult like” adolescents may look on the outside, they are still children.