Trials and Tribulations of Early Bloomers Across Genders

Child development can be a much more awkward process for some children, especially those who go through puberty before many of their peers.

Braving braces and acne medication, their voices cracking these early bloomers often struggle with a new body, new thoughts and new emotions.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the normal age range for a girl to hit puberty is between 8 to 13, while for boys in the range between 9 to 14.

It is particularly during these years that many children are involved in bullying.

According to PubMed Central, a digital repository for biomedical and life sciences journal literature, at the US National Library of Medicine, early maturing adolescents do not have peers undergoing the same developmental phase.

Consequently, they can’t find support or someone to share their feelings with and attention received from adults may be unwelcome to the point where it exacerbates their ordeal.

According to the literature, early maturing girls have been reported to suffer more depression, early sexual behavior and alcohol abuse than others. While the results for boys have not been as consistent. 

“These children have to go through it so early. They truly can’t grasp what’s happening to their little bodies,” said Nile Badrawy Hospital gynaecologist Nermeen El Khoury.

Being an early bloomer, means that your different, and being different in middle school, means that you will attract bullies like flies.

According to a May 17, 2018 article in Reuters Health Early Puberty in Girls Tied to Bullying in School, girls who go through puberty early are more likely to be involved in bullying at school, either as victims or perpetrators.

“With girls it’s harder because they get sexualized too early. It’s a sudden change from playing around in the streets and people giving you candy, to having the same people harassing and cat-calling you,”claimed El Kholy.

She explained that the first visible sign of puberty for girls is the growth of breasts. Girls can also expect to find hair growth in the pubic area and under the arms, and it’s normal to begin storing fat in their stomach, buttocks, and legs.

“ I’ve always carried a little extra weight in my tummy area. So when my boobs came, my friends would tell me I looked pregnant. As a defense mechanism, I started wearing baggy clothes and stayed as tomboyish as possible, even though I love dresses,”said the middle-school student N.A.

But it’s not just children who bully each other in school some teachers and school nurses intimidate these children too.

“ It was really embarassing. I went to the nurse asking her for pain-killers, because I was on my period. She didn’t believe me. She thought I was mocking her and trying to skip class, so she called my mom,”said F.E.

Like many early bloomers, F.E got her period when she was 8.

“When my mom confirmed that I was on my period, the nurse didn’t even apologize. She actually made it more uncomfortable, and kept talking about it with other teachers in front of me,” added F.E.

”This traumatic experience can actually push some girls to become bullies themselves, perhaps as a means to deal with the turmoil they’re feeling.

A Reuters Health study of 227,443 teen girls in 35 countries revealed that girls who went through early menstruation were 21 percent more likely to be “occasional victims of bullying and a 35 percent greater chance of frequent victimization.

The Reuters Health article says that girls who get their periods earlier than others are 46 percent more likely to become frequent bullies themselves.

Teachers who do not know how to deal with early bloomers could inadvertently add to the trauma of child bullying and intensify their insecurities.

It was this kind of lack of awareness which led to NA being intimidated by her teachers.

“I always take the ‘mom’ roles, in plays. I hate it. The teachers actually think that I can’t fit in little girls roles, but I am a little girl, and there are a lot of little girls who look like me,” expressed N.A.

It’s an entirely different set of experiences for male children, El Kholy says, because Egyptian culture actually appreciates boys who develop early.

“It’s considered manly to hit puberty early for guys. Still, we forget that they’re little kids, who are also confused,” said El Kholy.

Boys know they hit puberty when their arms, legs, hands and feet grow rapidly, and their shoulders broaden. They will also develop deeper voices.

El Kholy says the biggest challenge lies in miscommunication as people avoid talking about puberty with young children.

“I believe that even most adults don’t even talk about it. We make it seem so taboo, but how is it taboo if we all go through it?” she added.

Maturing into adulthood can be made easier for early bloomers if their parents and teachers start educating children from an early stage. El Kholy believes that if kids know what to expect, they will be less worried that there is something ‘wrong’ with them.

“Talk it out. If you’re children are confused about developing earlier than their friends, tell them, they’re just leading the pack, and others just need to catch up.”