What is puberty?
when your child’s body begins to develop and change as they transition into adulthood. It’s the time in your child’s life when they go through the physical changes to reach sexual maturity and are capable of reproduction. The stages of puberty follow a definite path with a progression of physical changes. The emotional changes of puberty may not progress at the same pace as the physical changes. Both the physical and emotional changes of puberty begin and end at different ages for each child. Puberty starts when a part of your child’s brain called the hypothalamus begins producing a hormone called gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). The hypothalamus sends GnRH to another part of the brain called the pituitary gland. GnRH stimulates the pituitary gland to release two more hormones — luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). These hormones travel to the sex organs (ovaries and testes), triggering them to begin releasing sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone). These messenger hormones cause the telltale signs of puberty to begin.