Show Your Do Doctor tor Says The following fallowing Is lJ one of o oa a series of 01 articles written witten by members o of 01 the Utah State Slate Medical Association and published in cooperation with your gour local lo o local ocal cal newspaper These articles articles' are scheduled to appear every verll other week throughout the year in fn an effort to better acquaint you with problems of oft t health and designed to improve the well being o of 01 the people of 01 Utah THE ADOL ADOLESCENT SCENT GIRL Part I IA IA IA A Tiny Tears doll a new doll cradle cradle a beach ball was her list two years ago This year her Christmas list was all clothes clothes- a felt circle skirt a nylon hailslip half hail slip six yards around The new Christmas requests are as reliable a harbinger of adolescence as the e changing contours of the young ladys lady's body Often these changes of adolescence strike the parents suddenly because mothers and fathers are reluctant to lose a achild achild achild child to the mysterious limbo of adolescence and Childbirth without fear has become become become be be- come a near cult with relief of fear from repeated explanations Could we achieve adolescence without awe by making use of the same educational techniques It Itis Itis Itis is d difficult to fear intensely that which is well known First examine some facts about the onset of adolescence ence in girls There Thera is marked individual variation variation vari vari- atlon in the age at which adolescence adolescence adolescence cence occurs It is important to understand that this phase of life has a slow beginning and follows a course of somewhat irregular development over many years The beginning of a adolescence is called puberty Changes Inactivity in inactivity inactivity activity of th the endocrine glands initiate the more obvious changes in the girls girl's body Hair grows under her arms anns The pubic hair begins to appear Her breasts enlarge enlarge enlarge en en- large gradually She notices that she is taller than the boys in her room at school These changes may often be seen as early as ten tenor tenor or eleven years of age At about the time of puberty she may become e very self conscious conscious con con- about her body Her feelings feelings feelings feel feel- ings may be a mixture of pride and embarrassment about her I emerging womanliness Hence the Christmas list of t the h e special specia r t clothes w which Ich comp comprise ise a kind of colorful billowy un uniform onn of ado- ado At eleven to fifteen years of age the girl experiences the most dramatic dramatic- of her physiological changes hanges Menstruation begins She shoUld hould know beforehand that the menstrual cycle is normal She should hould be told that there is no dangerous loss of blood She should hould not be led to believe that it t is a time of pain or illness N However she should not be asked to o deny that she feels some discomfort discomfort discomfort dis dis- dis- dis comfort or emotional change In Instead Instead Instead In- In stead she should be reassured that the discomforts she may feel are of no major Importance She must be ie reassured that although she may be by menstruation menstruation menstruation at times she can not be harmed by normal menstruation Just as the process of digestion may become faulty so can menstruation menstruation menstruation men men- vary from the healthy cycle that it normally is Digestive disturbances are not signals for violent alarm and unusual symptoms symptoms symptoms toms connected with menstruation should merely suggest a trip to the he doctor In the first year of the he menstrual cycle it is expected there here will be some irregularity Irregularity of the cycle during the first fast year if there are no other unusual symptoms need not be a cause of worry It is advisable that this phase of the girls girl's development development development de de- f be u under n d e r medical supervision just as her other up growing-up processes have been During Durin the adolescent changes In physiology and anatomy the girl has been moving toward maturity maturity maturity ma ma- in more subtle ways She spen spends s a great deal of time thinking thinking thinking think think- ing about herself hersel as an adult Some girls feel such urgent need to prepare themselves for or this state that they begin Spartan routines of self-denial self briefly But Buta a pleasantly unsettling characteristic characteristic character character- of adolescence is that one tired old personality need not be kept long Her richer emotional development gives the young woman vast new goals and her increased mental growth gives the means of attaining the goals But these goals and skills are new With her restless drive she must change frequently She is a little like the school boys boy's horseman who mounted his horse and rode off in all four directions You may be sure that your J daughter will try on many new personalities es before she decides Ill Til buy that Continued |