What did your parent- or do you wish your parent had told you about going through puberty?

16 comments

1. Nothing, but rather a tip for the parent: don’t be offended by the frequent wanking, either

2. Well my parents, being extremely religious, pounded into my head that I was horrible for having natural sexual desires.

   Really really fucked me up for a long time.

   Dont do that shit.

3. Literally telling me anything about why my voice changed, why I smelled different, why I started growing hair in different places and why I now had acne would have preferable to saying nothing like they did.

   I had to find a book at the library on my own volition to understand that this was all normal.

4. He’s 9, puberty won’t start for at least another 2 years, probably more, but I’d recommend teaching him the basics of male hygiene, (preferably from Dad) but deodorant, washing his parts properly, maybe a face shaving tutorial, (I had to start shaving by 13 most guys won’t have to start that early but it can’t hurt) and that sort of thing.

   These might be more appropriate when he gets a few years older:

   So for me, I’m in the US and uncircumcised, and no one told me that wasn’t common, or how to properly wash and take care of a foreskin having penis. I had to learn on my own that I wasn’t some kind of freak, that I needed to pull back the skin to pee and wash under there and I had to figure out that moisturiser is important.

   Also, inform your son that porn isn’t normal. Like it’s normal to watch it, but porn sex is sex designed to look good on camera, not feel good, and it’s also very aggressive, and not a lot of fun for either person. And the dimensions of those guys members is why they get to be on film, it’s like comparing your run time to an Olympic athlete, they’re pros for a reason.

   Lessons in female anatomy would have been helpful, but very weird coming from a parent (especially a Mom) so I can’t help but think that’s something he’ll have to learn on his own.

   My dad’s sex talk was just basically a very crass way of telling me to wear a condom. 0/10 do not recommend.

5. “Use some lotion son…the friction will wear the skin right off that thang”!!

6. I wish I’d been told that there was nothing I could do to control it.

   I was led to believe that decisions about my nutrition would significantly influence how tall I got, and that shaving would influence how quickly and how much facial hair I grew.

   I was also given some bad advice on hygiene, mostly that I stank all the time, and that I needed to use a dozen unnecessary hygiene products to overcome this. Yes: bathing, and deodorant/antiperspirant are very important. Scented shampoos, lotions, aftershave, body sprays, cologne (*every day!*), hair treatments, etc, etc, should not be taught as a vital part of this otherwise inescapable stench. This is why every teenage boy thinks he needs to wear 17 sprays of cologne, or bath in an ocean of Axe body spray.

7. That I was going to have erections and it’s normal. I was raised by mom so she never talked about this kind of stuff to me. My dad was too busy raising his sons in his new marriage to give a fuck. I had to teach my self every thing.

   And my mom is a crazy Christian Karen that just made me feel bad about my body and experiencing sexual desire is sinful and all that shit. I just wish my dad was around.

8. Do not call your child a future rapist because they want to start dating. Don’t do it.

9. Nothing

10. If Pokémon is still popular. I’m gonna explain puberty is like being the middle stage of a starter Pokémon. You aren’t cute and cuddley anymore. Your gonna look awkward and fail at a lot of stuff. And time feels like your waiting for level 36.

    Even the teens that look cool can end up with emotional problems (charmeleon)

11. They told me everything I needed to know. They also gave me books to read on the subject.

12. Mine didn’t really have to tell me anything. I was (and still am) a voracious reader, so they knew I read pretty much anything they could have told me well before they would have thought to say it (but they also knew I’m very much an outlier).

    Well, except for foreskin hygiene. *That* did take some explaining (not much though, seeing as it’s not complicated and pretty self-explanatory) since this is ‘Murrikuh and it’s the one place in the west that thinks the answer to any foreskin-related question is *get the knife*.

    I *do* wish my mother in particular had been less… Victorian about masturbation. Saying nothing at all would have been better than giving me grief about it when she would walk in (without knocking – seriously, what did she expect?).

13. They told me nothing

14. Lol my parents didn’t tell me anything.

    My parents only told me two things “do good in school” and “don’t get killed” that’s about it.

15. They gave me a book I could read about it so I could never have any awkward conversations about it with them. It worked.

16. You’re going to have a bunch of weird, chaotic, intense, and creepy thoughts and feelings.

    That’s fine.

    Everybody does.

    Just don’t *do* some of those things and you’ll be fine.