12 year old son hasn't started puberty yet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God forbid any of you meet a naturist family. I know several. All perfectly normal and see each other naked all the time. Only puritanical Americans cannot disassociate nudity and sex.

We're a German family here with the embassy and I'm laughing at this. This has been so amusing. I think American women might just be as weird about sexuality as the Japanese. You all sexualize everything, now you sexualize your boys heading into puberty. What a strange culture! We don't equate the naked bodies of our children with sex.

Having lived and worked in Germany, France, and the Netherlands: I know exactly how you feel. Most of the people who post here are whack job insane and appear like Tea Party members to the rest of the sane world.

Weird you two bring this up. I know many Europeans, and in fact am married to one, they don't frolic about in the nude all day.

[Anonymous]

Reading this made me laugh. So many people scared of the human body. Seriously people act like the mother is inviting people over to look at her son and judge his development. They're your children and Its parents responsibility to make sure they are growing accordingly not just their pediatrician.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm honestly shocked at how many replies are just people shocked that I saw my son's genitalia.

You really should not be looking anymore. Just FYI.

NP here. I am also shocked by how people are shocked about this. I have a similarly aged son, and I am supposed to monitor him to see if he needs intervention for precocious puberty. Neither him nor me are fazed by it or feel awkward by it. I think it all depends on how you approach the human anatomy and health. You can either shame your children, or you can be clinical about it. Monitoring growth and health is not sexual - you can do it without making a production of it . The child is still young enough that the parents have to be vigilant. It is not that it is an adult offspring and you are checking the size of their testicles.

BTW - after my delivery, my mom took care of me. If I apply the logic of the pearl clutchers, it would be horrifying that my mom saw my body parts.

The doctor cant monitor him?

Yes, the Dr. (ped endo) monitors him once in 4 months. I am supposed to report to him if I see some very specific changes. However, the point is not that I am monitoring for some medical reason, the point is that 12 is still a young child and if parents see them naked it if not a big deal. I think only people who have weird family dynamics would think too much about it.

You've got a unique medical situation that seems to warrant this sort of monitoring - if the doctor is asking you to do that, fine. Realize that not all kids require this...I'm sure that you know that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even in our all girl dorm no one walked to the communal showers naked. No one. Unless she was extremely drunk that is.

My roommates walked around in different states of dress and sometimes the had to get necked in our room to get dresses. Gasp!

Well, duh. Yeah "In YOUR room". Not "Down the hallway". See the difference?

No, you mean if she is naked in front of me in our hallway, she is more naked than when she is naked in our bedroom.

Yea, no difference.

Well, there might be strange guys hanging out in the hallway...so, yes, there is absolutely a difference between the privacy of a bedroom and a public hallway. That seems so...duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even in our all girl dorm no one walked to the communal showers naked. No one. Unless she was extremely drunk that is.

My roommates walked around in different states of dress and sometimes the had to get necked in our room to get dresses. Gasp!

Well, duh. Yeah "In YOUR room". Not "Down the hallway". See the difference?

No, you mean if she is naked in front of me in our hallway, she is more naked than when she is naked in our bedroom.

Yea, no difference.

Well, there might be strange guys hanging out in the hallway...so, yes, there is absolutely a difference between the privacy of a bedroom and a public hallway. That seems so...duh.

if you have strange guys hanging out in the hallways at your house you have a bigger issue than a 12 yo walking from the bathroom to his bedroom naked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I have no idea why first posters are horrified. You're his parent, of course you have to see to his health and everything it entails.

No puberty at 12 is still within the range of normal, but if you're worried, don't hesitate to talk with his ped. It has a lot to do with heredity. Perhaps his father was a late bloomer as well.

Age of puberty has no bearing whatsoever on his final height (and other measurements!) as an adult.

Its weird to see a 12 year old's penis.

Good Lord, you're criticizing a single mother worried about her son's development and taking a look at his penis? What if she was a pediatrician and did this every day?

You ARE a piece of work.

But she is not a pediatrician. Just a weirdo.

My son is 11 and he'll ask me for a towel when he gets in the shower without getting one. Many times I walk in to hand him the towel and he already has the curtain open. Since I'm not staring at him in some inappropriate way, I'm not freaked out by his naked body. He's a child and it's just a human body. I don't let him walk around the house naked, but if I'm handing him a towel he forgot to get, I'm not going to close my eyes and act like his body is something to be ashamed of. I've never even thought it was something people would consider weird. As he gets older, I'm sure he will keep the curtain closed and have me leave it on the towel rack because he will become self conscious. Seriously, give OP a break. OP, the beginning of puberty is on a spectrum and I don't think there is anything to worry about at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even in our all girl dorm no one walked to the communal showers naked. No one. Unless she was extremely drunk that is.

My roommates walked around in different states of dress and sometimes the had to get necked in our room to get dresses. Gasp!

Well, duh. Yeah "In YOUR room". Not "Down the hallway". See the difference?

No, you mean if she is naked in front of me in our hallway, she is more naked than when she is naked in our bedroom.

Yea, no difference.

Well, there might be strange guys hanging out in the hallway...so, yes, there is absolutely a difference between the privacy of a bedroom and a public hallway. That seems so...duh.

if you have strange guys hanging out in the hallways at your house you have a bigger issue than a 12 yo walking from the bathroom to his bedroom naked.

We have visitors come to our house sometimes. Of course we do. There are "public" areas of our house and I would consider the hallways to be one of those areas. So, yeah, none of us zoom naked down the hallway. We have clean towels in the bathroom (towel racks) and we don't keep our clothes in the hallway (bedroom closets/dressers)...so no need to be dashing around undressed dripping wet waiting for someone to finally hand us a towel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm honestly shocked at how many replies are just people shocked that I saw my son's genitalia.

Ridiculous, I agree. My son is 11 and has no modesty whatsoever. He uses the bathroom with the door open all the friggin' time. My husband, our daughters and I have told him a million times no one wants to see him or smell what he's doing, and he finds this hilarious We have all seen his penis, we have no choice lol You are absolutely normal OP and so is your son. There is either a complete prude that keeps posting over and over or a troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I have no idea why first posters are horrified. You're his parent, of course you have to see to his health and everything it entails.

No puberty at 12 is still within the range of normal, but if you're worried, don't hesitate to talk with his ped. It has a lot to do with heredity. Perhaps his father was a late bloomer as well.

Age of puberty has no bearing whatsoever on his final height (and other measurements!) as an adult.

Its weird to see a 12 year old's penis.

Good Lord, you're criticizing a single mother worried about her son's development and taking a look at his penis? What if she was a pediatrician and did this every day?

You ARE a piece of work.

But she is not a pediatrician. Just a weirdo.

My son is 11 and he'll ask me for a towel when he gets in the shower without getting one. Many times I walk in to hand him the towel and he already has the curtain open. Since I'm not staring at him in some inappropriate way, I'm not freaked out by his naked body. He's a child and it's just a human body. I don't let him walk around the house naked, but if I'm handing him a towel he forgot to get, I'm not going to close my eyes and act like his body is something to be ashamed of. I've never even thought it was something people would consider weird. As he gets older, I'm sure he will keep the curtain closed and have me leave it on the towel rack because he will become self conscious. Seriously, give OP a break. OP, the beginning of puberty is on a spectrum and I don't think there is anything to worry about at this point.

Same here with my sons. They call me when they ran out of soap or forget their towel. They also sometimes forget the close the door when they are using the bathroom. Since we have never made nudity an issue, they are not particularly modest. Like you, I think this will come once they get older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm honestly shocked at how many replies are just people shocked that I saw my son's genitalia.

You really should not be looking anymore. Just FYI.

NP here. I am also shocked by how people are shocked about this. I have a similarly aged son, and I am supposed to monitor him to see if he needs intervention for precocious puberty. Neither him nor me are fazed by it or feel awkward by it. I think it all depends on how you approach the human anatomy and health. You can either shame your children, or you can be clinical about it. Monitoring growth and health is not sexual - you can do it without making a production of it . The child is still young enough that the parents have to be vigilant. It is not that it is an adult offspring and you are checking the size of their testicles.

BTW - after my delivery, my mom took care of me. If I apply the logic of the pearl clutchers, it would be horrifying that my mom saw my body parts.

You are disgusting.

And you are sad.

[Anonymous]

I now know where all the disgusting husbands in the family and relationship forums come from. They were raised that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good thing has not started.
Once puberty starts, he'll slow down growing.

He's not even 13. It's all right!

I thought puberty is accompanied by a growth spurt.

This poster is wrong.

Boys don't stop growing until their late teens at the earliest.

Once boys hit puberty, the window of time where they will grow is then set. If they are short when they hit puberty, there is less time for them to grow in height. The more growing they get in prior to the onset of puberty, the better, for height purposes.

NP. Not what my son's endocrinologist told us at all. My DS is 12 and below the 5th percentile for height. The endocrinologist has told us that the later he goes into puberty, the more height he will gain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good thing has not started.
Once puberty starts, he'll slow down growing.

He's not even 13. It's all right!

I thought puberty is accompanied by a growth spurt.

This poster is wrong.

Boys don't stop growing until their late teens at the earliest.

Once boys hit puberty, the window of time where they will grow is then set. If they are short when they hit puberty, there is less time for them to grow in height. The more growing they get in prior to the onset of puberty, the better, for height purposes.

NP. Not what my son's endocrinologist told us at all. My DS is 12 and below the 5th percentile for height. The endocrinologist has told us that the later he goes into puberty, the more height he will gain.

+1. If OP is still here and truly concerned she should take her DS to an endocrinologist (BTW Dr. Selemi at CNMC is great). FWIW my 14 is currently at 8% on growth chart, is just now entering puberty, and is still considered within the range of 'normal.' He's pretty much the shortest/smallest in his class but unfortunately someone has to be 'last.' Dr. Selemi was able to reassure him all was ok, and he's feeling much better now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good thing has not started.
Once puberty starts, he'll slow down growing.

He's not even 13. It's all right!

I thought puberty is accompanied by a growth spurt.

This poster is wrong.

Boys don't stop growing until their late teens at the earliest.

Once boys hit puberty, the window of time where they will grow is then set. If they are short when they hit puberty, there is less time for them to grow in height. The more growing they get in prior to the onset of puberty, the better, for height purposes.

NP. Not what my son's endocrinologist told us at all. My DS is 12 and below the 5th percentile for height. The endocrinologist has told us that the later he goes into puberty, the more height he will gain.

I think that's what pp was saying actually. FWIW my boys were on the tall side going into puberty (both hit it within months of their 13th bday) and they have continued to grow since hitting puberty (voice change/hair on legs, etc). Puberty is a process, it doesn't completely happen overnight - they still continue to grow even after their voice changes.

If they had been on the smaller/shorter side I can see how hitting puberty at 12 might not be ideal. But what do the doctors do about that? Especially if it only means that a boy will be 5'6" vs 6'0". I guess I may not be completely understanding the goal..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good thing has not started.
Once puberty starts, he'll slow down growing.

He's not even 13. It's all right!

I thought puberty is accompanied by a growth spurt.

This poster is wrong.

Boys don't stop growing until their late teens at the earliest.

Once boys hit puberty, the window of time where they will grow is then set. If they are short when they hit puberty, there is less time for them to grow in height. The more growing they get in prior to the onset of puberty, the better, for height purposes.

NP. Not what my son's endocrinologist told us at all. My DS is 12 and below the 5th percentile for height. The endocrinologist has told us that the later he goes into puberty, the more height he will gain.

I think that's what pp was saying actually. FWIW my boys were on the tall side going into puberty (both hit it within months of their 13th bday) and they have continued to grow since hitting puberty (voice change/hair on legs, etc). Puberty is a process, it doesn't completely happen overnight - they still continue to grow even after their voice changes.

If they had been on the smaller/shorter side I can see how hitting puberty at 12 might not be ideal. But what do the doctors do about that? Especially if it only means that a boy will be 5'6" vs 6'0". I guess I may not be completely understanding the goal..

We're talking 5'5" vs. 5'7", and it's foolish to pretend that there is no advantage for men in being tall.