Welcome to this educational supplement on
growth and development. In this guide, you
will find fun facts and activities on friendships,
crushes, anatomy, gender roles, body image and
Internet safety. Also, keep an eye out for the Talk
To Me questions, which are great ways to get
conversations started. You can use these at home,
at the dinner table, for homework assignments,
with an adult in your family or with any other
trusted adult in your life.
The questions in blue
are designed for an adult to ask a child,
and
the questions in red are for a child to ask an
adult.
Explore, have fun and start talking!
Teens, Parents, and
Puberty: Branwen’s story
This special section was
designed for children in the
4th to 8th grades and the
adults in their lives. It’s
meant to help young
people get familiar with
changes in their bodies
and minds, as well as in
their relationships. We
advise teachers and
families to preview
the material
before sharing it
with youth.
What do you think
is the best thing
about growing up?
Meet Branwen, a junior at Avanti High School in Olympia, Washington. Branwen attended an All About
Puberty program with her dad when she was in elementary school.
Q: How has attending a PPGNW Family Program influenced your relationship with your parent(s) around issues
of sexual health and adolescence?
A: When I was around age 9, I moved from Port Townsend (my mom’s house) to my father’s house in Olympia.
Looking back now, I can truly say this is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Growing up with a single dad
has taught me so much about things that maybe I wouldn’t have learned living with my mom in Port Townsend.
You have to learn how to communicate, how to respect each other, and he had to learn what it was like growing
up with a teenage girl!
Attending the Family Program was truly a precursor to the relationship my father and I have today. When
we attended, I remember feeling awkward-unsure-strange, but when the Teen Council* members answered our
questions. I remember how amazing they seemed to me – glowing and SO much older. I couldn’t imagine
that I would be in that exact school, in the exact space six years later as a Teen Council
member answering those questions.
As time passed, I can truly say that attending the elementary school that I did,
and my Teen Council experience...has created an openness in me, and my father’s
relationship. I learned over time that honesty about subjects like sexual health and
adolescence – didn’t have to be such taboo subjects. Because honestly, what’s so
wrong with those things? I stand proud to be a human being, happy to say that
I can ask my dad to buy me some pads on the way home from work.
I am honored to say that because of that early orientation with the Family
Program, I have a wonderful and caring relationship with my dad and my
mom! And also, through the opportunities I am given through Planned
Parenthood my future will be forever shaped for the better.
* Teen Council is a peer education program for high school students
who receive training to facilitate presentations about sexual health
and become resources to others in their peer group. For more
information on Teen Council and how to get involved, visit:
What are three
reasons why you
are a good friend?
This is Branwen.
