Adolescence and Puberty

"Every mother and every girl should read this article, for in it her mental and physical powers take on form... It is the road that guides her to the happy life..."

-2-

In older times people believed that puberty — the beginning of adolescence — occurred suddenly, like a decisive revolution, and that with the appearance of menstruation the girl became a woman overnight, cutting every tie with childhood and putting on a new personality in her body and in her mind.

But modern research in physiology and psychology shows us that, apart from the awakening of the latent reproductive function, no sudden revolutionary changes occur in the years of puberty — life runs on like a quiet river, not like the violent torrent whose course is broken by waterfalls. Life is a coherent whole, alike in its parts; its first signs appear in childhood, and it continues, the same in its essential features, through adolescence and maturity.

Just as children are affected by the attitudes and acts of grown-ups without understanding them, so it is with the adolescent girl. If we change our attitude toward this age and stop regarding it as a perilous stage or a great crisis in the girl's life, our own feeling and reassurance pass over to her; she becomes in turn calm and confident, looking at things naturally, and her problems solve themselves. Yet how many a girl do we see chafing at the company of her family for the misplaced attention she sees them paying her.

Many are the influences to which the child is subject as he grows; the chief of them is the influence of the school and the teachers, who are the mother's right hand and her helpers in bringing up the child. But there is also the assistance of the doctor and the nurse, and the influence of neighbors, playmates and friends, books, newspapers, advertisements, the radio, the cinema, and parties. All this, in addition to the child's own personality, which responds to those influences and shapes them according to its particular inclinations. There arises, then, a continuous interplay between the factors acting on him and his response to those factors.

When the mother wants to choose for the child what she thinks useful for him, she is bound to be influenced by her own inclinations and her past experiences. So too the father, when he imposes his opinions and whims on the child. Imagine, then, the little one's state as he tries, through the various factors surrounding him, to express his own self, and at the same time to keep pace with his surroundings and follow the current.

Your duty then, O mother, is to guide your child — not from one side only, but from all sides, bodily, mental, and spiritual; and, amid the chaos of the influences that surround him, to lead him to what suits him, not to what suits you. You must study his needs and his inclinations, what he loves and what he hates; and you cannot detect any deviation or abnormality in him unless you have studied other, normal infants and children. Ask the doctor, if need be, and he will give you the necessary directions; report your observations to him precisely and faithfully, and his help to you will be the more useful and the more effective.

It goes without saying that the child is influenced by you first of all, and imitates many of your attitudes, movements, and habits in an imperceptible way; and that the happy childhood the child lives in a happy family is the foundation that will make of him, in the future, a devoted patriot and the head of a successful family. And you are the cornerstone of that building.

The Adolescent Girl's Diet

Although the adolescent girl needs no special treatment in the matter of food, we must not forget that the tissues of her body grow more active and that she needs the starchy and sugary foods that generate energy. Her appetite therefore sharpens — or is spoiled by a craving for sweets and for appetite-provoking foods, heavily spiced or odd in composition. She may frequent the refreshment shops too often, or go without breakfast in the hope of preserving the slimness of her figure. In such a case she must be given a balanced

diet and wisely kept from forming harmful habits of eating. Thus we manage her new inclinations with care and guidance.

At the age of puberty the girl needs especially the protein foods that build the body; for the rapid growth of the bones calls for a more abundant measure of calcium and phosphorus, and so does the growth of the muscles. Moreover, the new activity of the glands requires an increase of vitamins and salts in the food, and the circulation of the blood, subjected to new influences, calls for additional nourishment to secure the rapid growth of the blood corpuscles.

In short, the adolescent girl needs a diet rich in heat-producing elements — in protein, calcium, phosphorus, and iron.

Sleep and Rest

At this age the girl is exposed to lack of sleep and rest, through her devotion to schoolwork and to many other forms of cultural and social activity. Let us remember that between eleven and sixteen the girl should go to bed early, and that her hours of sleep should not fall below nine or ten. The family may find it difficult to apply a suitable program to this end, because of the great difference in the measure of freedom given to girls in different circles. Even so, parents ought to give this matter their attention, and families and society together should cooperate to protect youth from the dangers of fatigue and late hours, and to keep it from squandering its health.

Physical Exercise

Girls differ greatly in this respect. Some are affected by physical exercise at the time of menstruation; if they overdo it they feel pain and an increase in the flow of blood, while others, on the contrary, find that exercise agrees with them and removes the pain they feel at this time. So every girl should watch herself and see how exercise affects her during menstruation.

In general it is reckoned that about 85% of girls can, during this period, carry on all their usual activities without harm.

Athletic competitions, however, are another matter, for they expose the girl to excitement or emotional strain. A girl who can easily play ordinary games at the time of menstruation may find difficulty in taking part in a competition, because the strain to which she is then exposed may result in harm, especially in the first days. For this reason the girl is advised to refrain from entering any athletic competition during the first three days, or the first two days, of menstruation.

She is likewise advised to bathe during that time, for she needs it then more than at any other; but on condition that she not expose her body temperature to sudden change by passing abruptly into intense heat or intense cold, which would disturb the circulation of the blood or bring on cramps and pain. Some girls, however, cannot bear a full bath during this period; let them take a partial bath, using the loofah and doing without the pouring of water.