Onset of Puberty

I thought I had a few more years before I had to deal with pimples and body odor but my 10 year old son woke up this morning with a pus pot of a zit.

I was talking to my friend the other day about puberty and she mentioned she'd bought some books for her daughter to read. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid reader and love books but I want my kids to talk to me and be open about what's going on with them. Although, I will use books as a tool I am developing an open dialogue with him too.

I started talking to him about his body at a very early age. At night I'd ask him questions about his private parts and who was allowed to touch them. He was uncomfortable at first but I kept the tone light and we'd joke about how he was different from his sister and why his pee looked different from his dad's.

I wouldn't get technical or tell him the bird's and bee's. He know's there is something called sex from the TV but he doesn't know what it is. After all he's only 10.

By asking light questions and giving him age appropriate info about his body in different non technical ways has enabled a strong line of communication to develop. Whether he will pick up his end of the line when he has questions or issues is yet to be seen.