Boys, puberty, and drama

[Dobela]

Where did I miss that part of parenting 101 that told me to expect my son to be an emotional basket case upon entering puberty??? He cries about everything at the drop of a hat! What else do I need to know other than the huge eating increase?

[alamama]

boys, puberty, drama...that fits our house!

[kewb]

I feel your pain. Everyone talks about girl drama but boy drama seems to be a dirty little secret. My 12 year old has emotional highs and lows and they happen at the drop of a hat.

[freetobeme]

i've got two at once. . .

[Lucy in Australia]

Well, at the risk of depressing you, when my DS turned 14 he shot up like a weed, his voice broke and he just suddenly looked like a man. With that came moodiness (ohhhh, the moodiness, the moodiness!) and arrogance: I suddenly didn't know anything about anything :D His Dad had to step in and put him in his place a few times. Now things are much better - except for the moodiness :glare:

 

Having said that, most of the time it's a real joy to have a young man around. He is really helpful (especially when I can't reach high things :lol:), very responsible and has the most terrific sense of humour. I really love this stage. The food budget - well, that's another story and I don't want to make you cry :tongue_smilie:

[Mandy in TN]

My easy going oldest ds turned into a drama queen when he hit puberty.

 

My hyper, moody middle ds hit puberty slowed down and entered a fog where his brain mysteriously leaked out his ear.

 

The good news is that my oldest one leveled out before he graduated from high school and my middle ds (who will be 17yo this fall) is more level tempered than before puberty and he found his brain!

 

Mandy

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm probably jinxing myself here :tongue_smilie: but what has helped ds13 (some but not 100%) is taking a B-Complex (it helps them with stress), zinc (boys esp. need zinc during puberty) and lots of hard exercise.

[Denisemomof4]

Oh..... I see your boy is 10. You have my sympathies. ;) Don't worry; in another year, year and a half tops, his crying spells will stop. It doesn't last long.

 

I see you have the eating thing covered. Unless you have older children not in your siggy, you have NO IDEA. I can't BELIEVE the amounts a boy consumes during a growth spurt!

 

Oh, oldest ds grew these GIGANTIC gorilla arms. I felt awful for him. Thankfully I never said a thing and eventually the rest of his body caught up to those HUGE hands and LONG arms. :lol:

Edited September 15, 2010 by Denisemomof4

[Denisemomof4]

Oooooooooooooh, one other thing. Once they hit 17 or so, give or take a year, teenage boys know EVERYTHING. Isn't that COOL??? I'd just LOVE to know everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How I envy my oldest!!!!!!!!!!

:leaving:

[alamama]

Well, at the risk of depressing you, when my DS turned 14 he shot up like a weed, his voice broke and he just suddenly looked like a man. With that came moodiness (ohhhh, the moodiness, the moodiness!) and arrogance: I suddenly didn't know anything about anything :D His Dad had to step in and put him in his place a few times. Now things are much better - except for the moodiness :glare:

 

Having said that, most of the time it's a real joy to have a young man around. He is really helpful (especially when I can't reach high things :lol:), very responsible and has the most terrific sense of humour. I really love this stage. The food budget - well, that's another story and I don't want to make you cry :tongue_smilie:

 

you just described our 12 year old.

 

My easy going oldest ds turned into a drama queen when he hit puberty.

 

My hyper, moody middle ds hit puberty slowed down and entered a fog where his brain mysteriously leaked out his ear.

 

The good news is that my oldest one leveled out before he graduated from high school and my middle ds (who will be 17yo this fall) is more level tempered than before puberty and he found his brain!

 

Mandy

 

So we have about 5 more years...:tongue_smilie:.

 

I'm probably jinxing myself here :tongue_smilie: but what has helped ds13 (some but not 100%) is taking a B-Complex (it helps them with stress), zinc (boys esp. need zinc during puberty) and lots of hard exercise.

 

I will have to check into that.

[Parrothead]

Don't buy expensive shoes. Oh, I remember my brothers growth spurt. In just a very short amount of time, he went from 5 feet even to almost 6 feet tall. Mom was buying shoes every couple of months until it got to the point she had to special order them. At that point his feet finally quit growing. He topped out at 6'4".

[PinkInTheBlue]

I am so grateful this topic comes up periodically lately. If I could schedule it, could all of you talk about how similar your early teen boys are to my 14 yr old? His extreme moodiness, frustration and apparent ability to KNOW IT ALL are driving me absolutely bonkers! For the first time ever, I have actually contemplated private school for him next year. It was bad enough today that I wondered if I might consider it for next semester!

 

The crazy thing is that 5 minutes later he is cooperative and helpful and great! He doesn't swing to crying. He's just so easily frustrated or mad. It's really driving me up the wall. I feel like his mood swings are giving me whiplash! :)

[Dobela]

Oh..... I see your boy is 10. You have my sympathies. ;) Don't worry; in another year, year and a half tops, his crying spells will stop. It doesn't last long.

 

I see you have the eating thing covered. Unless you have older children not in your siggy, you have NO IDEA. I can't BELIEVE the amounts a boy consumes during a growth spurt!

 

Oh, oldest ds grew these GIGANTIC gorilla arms. I felt awful for him. Thankfully I never said a thing and eventually the rest of his body caught up to those HUGE hands and LONG arms. :lol:

Yes, my baby is 10. He is entering puberty a bit earlier than average and I am so sad about that growing up part. He has underarm hair that is visable now, and is growing like crazy. He was 5ft2 at his last dr visit and wears a mens 10.5 EEEE in shoes. The doctor predicts he will be somewhere between 6'5 and 6'8 when he stops growing. Considering howmuch he eats now, I don't look forward to the 3x as much mark tht the dr also told me about. I wonder why though he didn't warm me about the emotional drama?

 

I'm probably jinxing myself here :tongue_smilie: but what has helped ds13 (some but not 100%) is taking a B-Complex (it helps them with stress), zinc (boys esp. need zinc during puberty) and lots of hard exercise.

He takes good vitamins, we have started making more sleep a priority, and lots of exercise as well.

I am so grateful this topic comes up periodically lately. If I could schedule it, could all of you talk about how similar your early teen boys are to my 14 yr old? His extreme moodiness, frustration and apparent ability to KNOW IT ALL are driving me absolutely bonkers! For the first time ever, I have actually contemplated private school for him next year. It was bad enough today that I wondered if I might consider it for next semester!

 

The crazy thing is that 5 minutes later he is cooperative and helpful and great! He doesn't swing to crying. He's just so easily frustrated or mad. It's really driving me up the wall. I feel like his mood swings are giving me whiplash! :)

We have the same thing here. I can't tell you how many times in the last 3 days I have said to Bubba, "You wouldn't be in this much trouble if you had just been quiet and not talked back." It must be that loss of brain thing because each time he looks at me like I am clueless LOL.

[msjones]

My son started early-ish, too. While our drama isn't too bad (usually...yet...) it's the hunger and clumsiness that stand out. My poor boy seems to be hurting himself (falling!) several times each week. It shouldn't surprise me, I suppose; his arms, legs, and feet are sprouting like weeds. Plus, he's growing MAN shoulders. And he's hungry, hungry, hungry all the time.

 

Here's my question: if they start puberty early, do they END early? Or is it just dragged out?

[cjzimmer1]

My son is 12 soon to be 13. I really don't think he has started puberty yet, at least he's not showing any outward signs. But this thread concerns me, because he has down the crying and the drop of the hat, and out-eating me his ENTIRE life (okay he started out-eating me at 2, I'm not joking). Seriously, he cries and gets frustrated so much it drives me nuts. So if he is like this now, just how much worse is it going to get when he hits puberity. I don't think I will survive.

[LostSurprise]

I'm really thankful for this thread because my 10 year old just started a crying/angry/moody period and my husband turns to me all the time and asks ME if its okay. :P