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Overview
Whether you’re noticing new curves and hair growing where it never did before, or feel like your emotions are always on the surface, you likely have a lot of questions about what is going on inside you … and what it means. No matter how big the question or how embarrassing it may sound, Nancy Rue is here with answers.
Inside You! A Christian Girl’s Guide to Growing Up, you’ll discover:
- honest answers to your changing-body questions
- health and beauty tips
- quizzes and journaling space to help you figure out where you are in your puberty journey
- medical and spiritual facts on the things you wonder about
- advice from girls like you who have been where you are
Most importantly, you’ll discover the true beauty that is revealed as you grow closer to God, and all the things you’re going through are actually part of his plan for the beautiful, confident, grown-up you!
You! A Christian Girl’s Guide to Growing Up:
- can be used as a supplement to school health classes
- looks at puberty from a Christian perspective
- helps make adolescence understandable and manageable for young girls
- features a conversational tone and fun features
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780310733195 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Zonderkidz |
| Publication date: | 03/05/2013 |
| Series: | Faithgirlz |
| Pages: | 432 |
| Sales rank: | 294,033 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.20(d) |
| Age Range: | 9 - 12 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
You! A Christian Girl's Guide to Growing Up
Faithgirlz!By Nancy Rue
ZONDERKIDZ
Copyright © 2013 Nancy RueAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-310-73319-5
Chapter One
I'm a What? A Mini-Woman?
If you're a girl between eight and twelve years old, you're actually a mini-woman. You get that, right? You're no longer totally a "little girl" (as in, you can make your own peanut butter sandwich), and you haven't completely lost your mind yet and become a teenager (although I suspect there's some eye-rolling and "whatevering" already going on).
Some people call that being a "tween." I like the term mini-woman, though, and here's why:
You've probably noticed some changes going on with your body these days. Like ... it's not the same as it was a year ago. Or a month ago. Or even yesterday.
That's not your imagination going wild. The only other time in your life when this much different stuff happened in such a short period was between the day you were born and your first birthday. Since then you've been able to depend on your body to be the same old reliable bod every day except for growing taller. And then it seemed like overnight you were turning into somebody else!
One of your fellow mini-women talks about it this way:
"You know what scares me? HORMONES. I'm not exactly sure what they are, but when people talk about them, they sound bad. I think that's what causes periods (but I'm not sure). I also hear that's what makes you, like, emotional too, and if so, I HATE hormones!"
She's right about one thing: Hormones do cause periods and changes in emotions and just about everything else that's taking you by surprise right now (or will soon).
"The emotions are weird. I never thought when I was little I'd act the way I did today. And also the HAIR. I never thought I'd have all this hair in scary places."
When your body starts to make those new and different hormones, you go through a stage in your life called puberty. It's actually a good thing because it means you're slowly turning into a woman. And since you're a smaller version of a grown-up woman, well, that makes you a mini-woman.
"A woman?" you say. "I'm having enough trouble being a kid!"
Yeah, I know. On top of more homework and harder math and more complicated drama going on with friends, you have to deal with bras, hairy armpits, and feet that are suddenly too big for the rest of you. What was God thinking when he put that all together, right?
Actually, God did all of us women a favor by making puberty a gradual process. Wouldn't it be freaky to go to bed one night looking like you're seven and wake up the next morning with the body of an eighteen-year-old? It's way better that it works like it does.
"All I have to say is, boys are sooo lucky."
That's a lot of change, but it isn't everything that's going on with you in these becoming-a-mini-woman years.
Most girls your age also start thinking about the way they look. For some, that's a complete blast. Clothes! Fun hairstyles! Nail polish ... pierced ears ... the list goes on. For others, it's a downer. They feel funky and not very trendy and just plain unlovely even though none of the above is actually true. Whichever sounds more like you (and that probably changes from day to day ... hour to hour ...), caring about whether you're pretty, cute, or even just not a gorilla is absolutely normal. Yeah, normal, but often confusing and hard and even painful.
Put it all together—body changes and beauty issues—and, yikes, it could also be just plain scary. But it doesn't have to be, and that's why you have this book in your hands. It's divided into two sections, "Body Talk" and "Beauty Matters." Each will help you through all the changes that are going on in you right now, and will do it in a way that's unique to your own God-made, mini-woman self. There's so much that's great about being a girl. Why let the hard parts send you into a funk?
In the "Body Talk" section, you'll find out that even the toughest things about puberty can be a whole lot easier if you:
* have all the facts and understand what's going on and why.
* are prepared with the right supplies.
* find out who's the most helpful in getting you through all this (definitely including God).
* actually like the body that's changing you daily into the woman you were made to be.
In the "Beauty Matters" section, you'll find help to:
* decide how important looking good is to YOU.
* discover your unique beauty (which everybody has).
* learn ways to get that only-you beauty shining.
* accept the things about your appearance that you can't change (and maybe even learn to love them!).
* understand what inner beauty is and let it be the most beautiful thing about you.
I've had a lot of help from mini-women who, like you, are in the middle of this turning-into-a-woman process even as we speak. You'll read their true stories here in "Mini-Women Say" and you'll know you are SO not alone. I like to think we're on a journey together. Some of the steps we'll take will apply to everybody. Some will be unique to just you. And always, always, we'll have God out ahead of us, showing us the way many mini-women have traveled before us—and making it better than ever.
You ready? Then let's talk body.
Chapter Two
What's Happening to My BODY?!
On the Tween You and Me blog recently, we were talking about the things that are scary about puberty. One mini-woman wrote:
"I don't think I'm scared about anything in particular, but sometimes I worry about what I don't know."
That's so right, isn't it? We get way more worked up when we don't actually know what this new thing is that we're facing. So let's start with some facts that will help you be worry free.
HERE'S THE DEAL ON WHAT PUBERTY IS
Puberty transforms you from a flat-chested, smooth-as-a-pear little girl to a miniature woman with ...
• breasts.
• new hair under the arms and in the pubic area (y'know, between your legs).
• thicker, coarser hair, on the legs especially (so lovely, right?).
• sweat that has a less-than-lovely odor (a fact your brother is more than happy to point out to you).
• wider hips (as in, your jeans no longer fit).
• a taller, maybe even heftier, body (just when you start caring about being skinny).
"What I don't get is that in theory, once you have your period, you can have a baby. But looking down at my body, there is no way I could have one. I'm also wondering if my chest is going to grow any more or what?"
You may ask, "And this happens because ...?" There really is a reason! It's a little complicated, so here it is in simple form.
• Every female's body is designed to automatically start producing two new hormones at some time in the tween years (though later for some girls). Those are estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen causes all of the stuff on page 24. Progesterone, with some help from estrogen, causes and controls menstrual periods, which happen once a month. More on those later.
• As if that weren't enough, the arrival of these new hormones also leads to some emotional changes.
• Mood swings: You've got the giggles one minute, and the next you're crying, all for no apparent reason. You can feel like your feelings are out of control (even though they're not).
• Changes in your attitude about boys: Where once you were convinced they were all possessed by demons, or at the very least had cooties, you find yourself wanting to look cute for them. Or you secretly enjoy it when the one least likely to actually have cooties unties your sneaker for the forty-third time.
• A new need to have more privacy, especially when you're getting dressed or taking a shower. (And even more especially if you have brothers in the house ...)
"What I didn't expect is that I'm way more 'private' about my body parts than I used to be. It used to be okay if somebody in my family walked in on me when I was in the shower, but now it just isn't!"
Now that you know you're normal and that this stuff happens to every girl on the planet, let's look at how you're unique in the way it's going to all play out.
"Yesterday some boys said I am fat. NO, wait they YELLED it. My friends and family say I am not fat, but I'm starting to believe the boys."
"It's kind of annoying that none of my really close friends my age have gotten their periods yet, and I got mine at eleven. They can't relate to what I'm going through with cramps and stuff."
HERE'S THE DEAL ABOUT THOSE DIFFERENCES
• Girls of different ethnic backgrounds start puberty at different times. For instance, the average African-American girl begins puberty just before the age of nine. The average white girl starts right before the age of ten. And remember, not everyone is "average."
• Pubic hair comes in all different thicknesses and colors and grows at different rates. It starts as straight, light-colored, fine hairs and grows in stages to the final darker and coarser curly hairs. Some of that depends on ethnic background too. Asian girls, for instance, seem to have less pubic hair.
• The "puberty growth spurt" starts at different ages for different girls. For some it seems to happen in a big way (from straight as a stick to lusciously curvy practically overnight), while for others it isn't as dramatic. In this two- to four-year time period, girls put on weight and grow taller at a faster rate than before (as much as four inches in a year instead of the average of two inches a year). The growth rate slows down by the time girls have their first period, and most girls reach their adult height one to three years after that. You may grow up to nine inches during the puberty growth spurt, but, again, some grow more and some grow less. It's all good!
• Your face will probably change some during puberty too. The lower part gets longer, and your chin juts out more. Your forehead gets wider. You'll actually start looking more like an adult than a kid, which is, of course, cool. Some girls' faces get sharper and more chiseled, and others' get fuller and look, well, older. If it seems like your face is staying its little-girl self, that's okay too. There is nothing wrong with having a young look.
• One of the most bizarre things about puberty is that the bones in your feet start to grow before other bones. That means your feet will reach their adult size before the rest of you does. Since everybody won't end up being the same height, everybody's feet aren't going to be the same size now either. Forget about comparing shoe sizes or worrying that you're going to feel like Ronald McDonald for the rest of your life. It will all balance out before you stop growing, and you will stop tripping every time you try to cross a room.
• During the growth spurt, your pelvic bones grow and fat grows around them, giving you hips. They make your waist seem smaller, and when your breasts develop—ta da!—you have curves. You're born with a body type already programmed in to develop during puberty, and there are basically three:
* Endomorph: round body with soft curves and a little more body fat (which is NOT a bad thing, no matter what those TV and magazine ads show you).
* Ectomorph: slim body with fewer curves and more angles (not a bad thing either!).
* Mesomorph: muscular body with wide shoulders and slim hips (just as girl-like as the other body types).
• The weight spurt and the growth spurt don't always happen at the same time. It's more like a seesaw. For a while you're adding pounds faster than you're adding inches; then for a while you're gaining inches faster than you're gaining pounds. Everybody's seesaw is moving at a different, personal rate, so there's no need to get hung up on feeling fat or thinking you're scrawny next to your friends.
• It may seem like your moods are always out of sync with your friends' moods. You sometimes feel like letting it all hang out in silliness, while one of your friends is stuck in a funk—or the other way around. Many of the roller coaster rides your moods and feelings take during puberty are caused by the new hormones your body's producing. Some girls (and some grown-up women) are really jolted around emotionally by their hormones, while others seem to ride right over them. It takes time for your body to adjust, so don't think you're a total drama queen next to your best friend who never sheds a tear. How your moods bounce around depends partly on the way you've always reacted to the things that happen around you. If you were born a sensitive baby, you're probably going to be extra sensitive during puberty. If you've been a toughie from birth, you'll more than likely be a little short-tempered in your puberty years and perhaps more rebellious than your weepier friends. If you've been laid back since day one, that will probably continue. Basically, who you are emotionally will seem to be magnified about a jillion times.
"I'm more developed than most of the other girls my age, but I don't worry about it because I know pretty soon they'll catch up. Then I can help them."
"Whenever I weigh myself, I feel like I'm always gaining weight because I'm growing, and I'm gaining it from growing upwards, not sidewards, but it still makes me feel fat just seeing those numbers go up, even though people say I'm not fat and that I have curves. So I guess I'm still sorta, kinda skinny-ish-normal-ish."
"Now that I have curves, I can wear fashionable clothing better. Even though most of my friends are, like, cute little skinny things, I like being curvy."
"I think if you put a boy's head on my body, you couldn't tell a difference. I am not developed at all!"
"One day my mom took my best friend and me to Chik-Fil-A after school for dinner and I asked if I could have a milkshake, and she said no and I burst into tears like a two-year-old. I felt like an idiot in front of my friend who, like, doesn't have hormones yet, I guess."
If you weren't wondering before what you're going to do with all these changes, you probably are now! Before we go there, let's go to God, who set this whole thing in motion to begin with.
GOT GOD?
It's a good thing you don't have to go it alone. Even if you aren't particularly thankful for that right now, just know that there are three truths you can depend on from God.
Truth #1: God wants you to become a woman. And not just any woman, but one different from all others.
Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number; but my dove, my perfect one, is unique.
Song of Songs 6:8–9
Truth #2: God knows how strange and frustrating and often embarrassing and sometimes even painful the process of becoming that woman can be. God understands that it's a big deal. He's been hearing about it forever.
We have a little sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister?
Song of Songs 8:8
(And you thought your siblings were up in your business!)
Truth #3: God listens to you when you have complaints and doubts and fears about this whole puberty thing. Jesus says there's nothing too small to pray about.
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows."
Matthew 10:29–31
Puberty's a lot to handle, and we don't have any choice about going through it. But God never gives us anything to deal with that he doesn't also give us the tools for.
"I don't talk to anyone about body changes, really, except God. I know that may sound weird, but it's true! And helpful!!"
One of those tools is absolutely having someone you can talk to in addition to God. Sure, it can be embarrassing to even discuss your fears and confusion with your mom. But the more you do it, the easier it will be and the more actual information you'll get (instead of "I heard this was true" at Friday-night sleepovers). You'll find suggestions in this book for how to approach your mom or another adult woman you trust.
"I don't really talk about any of this, but if absolutely necessary, I would talk to my mom. Maybe."
The other people you can go to for support (though probably not for facts) are your friends, so let's start there.
"Friends are easier to talk to, but Mom knows so much more than we do. I go to both for different reasons."
(Continues...)
Excerpted from You! A Christian Girl's Guide to Growing Up by Nancy Rue Copyright © 2013 by Nancy Rue. Excerpted by permission of ZONDERKIDZ. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
How to Read This Book....................111 I'm a What? A Mini-Woman?....................17
2 What's Happening to My BODY?!....................23
3 Bras, Breasts, and Other Girl Things....................45
4 Every MONTH?....................67
5 Confessions of a Couch Potato....................99
6 Table Talk....................125
7 The Clean Scene....................155
8 That Whole Boy Thing....................173
9 Body Bullies....................195
10 Mini-Woman!....................219
11 You've Got It Goin' On....................231
12 The Skin You're In....................251
13 Love the 'Do....................277
14 Smooth Moves....................299
15 Things That Will Come in Handy and Footy!....................319
16 Stylin'....................343
17 Don't You Hate That?....................373
18 What About ...?....................387
19 Beautiful Inside and Out....................413
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