5 Things Every Teenage Girl Should Know About

How Your Body Physically Changes

One of the first things you might notice when you reach adolescence is that your feet and hands start to grow. You might feel a little clumsy until the rest of your physique catches up.

During your growth spurt, you may also gain weight and notice that your hips are getting curvier. These things are normal and are actually natures way of helping your body to prepare for pregnancy (hopefully, in MUCH later years).

Knowing how your body moves is essential as a teenage girl. Although they are not neccessary, classes from places like Physio Rehab or even simple Pilates and Yoga classes can help you improve your posture, balance, and flexibility in ways that are different from pre-teens.

Your Growing Boobs

Getting bigger breasts can be stressful! However, this feeling can get worse if you begin to compare yourself to your friends or famous people.

This is one of the worst things you can do for your self-esteem and confidence – and social media can be terrifying!

It is important to understand that each girl’s breasts grow at a different rate, and they aren’t fully grown until you are 17 years old.

You may not know this, but your nipples can also change. They might stay the same shape and colour, or they might turn pink or brown. The area around your nipples may seem to darken slightly and they can become a bit more sensitive.

Getting Spots or Acne

During early adolescence, your body makes different amounts of hormones that make oil on your skin.

Pimples and breakouts are caused by overly active oil glands in the skin. You may notice that you get more spots when you go through puberty.

Try not to touch the spots, as doing so can make them much worse and leave scars. If you are concerned about your skin, talk to your pharmacist or doctor about what treatments are available, or try creams and cleansers first.

With that said, before you try using creams or cleansers, you should make sure they are ok to use on your own skin type and age. Asking your pharmacist is a great place to start and is free advice.

Understanding Your Period

One of the most important things every teenage girl should know about is periods.

Periods are a perfectly natural and important part of a woman’s life. Blood builds up on the inside of your uterus every month.

When your ovary releases an egg, it will be shed with the body fluid from your womb and come out. This is your period. It usually lasts a week, but some are shorter, and others are longer.

There are also different amounts of blood, but both can change in the first few years after your period starts before they settle into a regular pattern.

Periods can also come with pain. Some girls are lucky and will only get a little (or no) pain, whereas others may experience more pain. Personally, I was the latter. 

If you happen to be one of the girls that experience quite a lot of pain, it is important to talk to your doctor about this as they may be able to give you special painkillers or advice on how to lessen the pain.

Again, it is perfectly natural and will come every month until around the age of 40-45 when you go into the menopause, so try not to panic.

Find a way of soothing your pains and managing your periods and you will be fine.

Crushes and Sexual Relationships

As you get older, you might want to hang out with people of different genders and even want to date someone you’re attracted to. Even if you don’t want a relationship, it is normal to feel this way.

Although the majority of boys will be understanding and patient, you should be wary of anyone who tries to force you to do something sexual. You must understand consent about sex VERY well.

BOTH of you need to talk about it and agree to kiss, touch intimate areas, and have oral or vaginal sex.

Please also remember that the legal age of consent in most countries is 16. However, this does NOT mean that you are supposed to or should feel pressured to have sex at this age. Many people like to wait until they are 21 or even married.

Summary

There are plenty of things every teenage girl should know about – and many of them can make you nervous. Some of the most common include bodily changes, getting your period, and sexual relationships. 

These are all normal things to feel nervous talking about, but know that there are plenty of people who can help if you don’t want to talk to your parents or friends.

Pharmacists and doctors can give you good advice too.

Your mother – or any older female who you trust, will also have gone through the same things you are going through now and will completely understand how you feel.

Photo by Terje Sollie on Unsplash