Deodorant Time?
Posted: March 11, 2009 at 10:28 pm by pannI am feeling really weird about this: My daughter Carla is at the beginning of puberty.
She is 8 and a half years old, which seems so young!
But I have to face the facts that she’s growing up, and quickly. She’s clearly starting to develop little buds of breasts, nothing BIG, but yet it’s there. She is different in that way. Her hips are rounder than they used to be.
And her underarms are producing sweat, and the smell that goes with it. I cannot remember if I went through this so young, myself. I am kind of feeling freaked out by this.
Is this a normal time to be needing (needing? is that the right word?) to wear deodorant?
Posted in Family Life, garden variety angst | 
2 Comments »
March 12th, 2009 at 8:18 am
I don’t envy you… unfortunately, at least at the elementary schools I’ve worked at, the age of onset for puberty has been decreasing. There are some schools of thought that believe it is because of the extra hormones in milk nowadays. We’ve had to ask some mothers of our first grade girls (it seems to be almost exclusively girls starting early) to please send deodorant to school with the children. You MAY want to teach her how to put it on after lunch recess and gym class, kids can be so cruel. If they start to notice odor, she could be picked on.
Also, it’s a good idea to send a pad to school with your daughter, though nurses usually have them available for early starters, I’ve found most girls are too embarrassed or confused to ask for one. This way, if she thinks she might need to use it, she has it. It will probably also make her seem cooler to the other girls, which she will inevitably brag to.
Wow, how’s that for a novel? Sorry for being so long winded!
HUGS to you, your baby is growing up.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I know — the milk thing has worried me all along — so we use the kind that is more natural.
We eat very little meat, and aside from the occasional fast food, we try to eat only organic / hormone free meat.
I hadn’t even thought about menstruation yet!
I am not ready for this. I’m just not.