Helping your child prepare for puberty

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Helping your child prepare for puberty

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There’s some great ways to deal with the early on stages of puberty. The number one way is to remember what it felt like when you were going through the puberty. So understand what it felt like to get your period for the first time. To not be able to control your emotions, because the hormones were raging. To think that everybody was out to get you, which is a huge thing with puberty is to, you know, trying to get your independence and feeling like nobody wants to give it to you and that you just want to break free or at least go in your room and close the door and pretend like the world doesn’t exist. You really need to put yourself into your children’s shoes. And then, of course, it’s do your research. Understand what’s going to happen to their bodies. Understand that you really have to talk to them about what’s going to happen to their bodies, because you’ve been through it but they haven’t. So there’s going to be some body hair coming and your breasts are going get big. And maybe in the middle of the night, if you’re a boy, you’re going to have some weird dreams that are going to make you do some things. And it’s okay. That’s human. And once you’re comfortable giving them that information, you have to get comfortable giving them that information. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s human. It’s what happens. And once you can give them that information, they can walk through puberty a little bit better. But you have to understand that it’s not going to be easy.

See Denene Millner's video on Helping your child prepare for puberty...

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Denene Millner

Author & Founder of MyBrownBaby.com

New York Times best-selling author Denene Millner is a hotly sought after award-winning journalist whose insightful and captivating pieces have secured her foothold in the entertainment, parenting and book publishing industries. Millner spent the last decade working as a columnist, contributing editor and blogger for Parenting, a national magazine for which she provided witty, engaging, mom-to-mom advice on ethics and etiquette in everything from childrearing and marriage to work and friendship. Currently, she also is the founder and editor of MyBrownBaby.com, a critically acclaimed, award-winning blog that examines parenting and motherhood through the multi-cultural experience. Millner frequently contributes as an entertainment writer for Essence, the most well-read and respected magazine for African American women, and has written for a plethora of national publications and prestigious websites, including Parenting, Health, Ebony, Jet, Heart & Soul, Real Health, Money, iVillage, Parenting.com, TodayMoms, and The Root, among others. Her extensive television experience includes regular appearances on the The Today Show, CBS Early Show, The Nate Berkus Show, HLN, CNN, MSNBC, VH1, and the Rachel Ray show. Millner also is the author of 21 books. The former political reporter and entertainment journalist lives in the Atlanta area with her husband and their two daughters.

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Transcription: 
There’s some great ways to deal with the early on stages of puberty. The number one way is to remember what it felt like when you were going through the puberty. So understand what it felt like to get your period for the first time. To not be able to control your emotions, because the hormones were raging. To think that everybody was out to get you, which is a huge thing with puberty is to, you know, trying to get your independence and feeling like nobody wants to give it to you and that you just want to break free or at least go in your room and close the door and pretend like the world doesn’t exist. You really need to put yourself into your children’s shoes. And then, of course, it’s do your research. Understand what’s going to happen to their bodies. Understand that you really have to talk to them about what’s going to happen to their bodies, because you’ve been through it but they haven’t. So there’s going to be some body hair coming and your breasts are going get big. And maybe in the middle of the night, if you’re a boy, you’re going to have some weird dreams that are going to make you do some things. And it’s okay. That’s human. And once you’re comfortable giving them that information, you have to get comfortable giving them that information. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s human. It’s what happens. And once you can give them that information, they can walk through puberty a little bit better. But you have to understand that it’s not going to be easy.