Growing Up: Preadolescence (1958)

[Music] when summer ends and the cool weather begins is there excitement around your house planning for what you'll need seeing if last year's close fit right now Peggy is trying on a jacket she wore last year soon it will be Nikki's turn Nikki and Peggy are just about like any other brother and sister except that they are twins they were born on the same day in the same year Nikki is going to get some of his last year's clothes to try on how will this skirt fit Peggy well it looks to mothers if Peggy has really outgrown this skirt she's quite a bit taller than last year she seems to have shot up in height and she's gaining weight faster than before mother will need to plan on getting different clothes for Peggy since she has grown so much taller and now Nikki here's a pair of trousers Nikki wore last year has he outgrown them well he has grown a little taller but not as much this year as last year even though Nikki has grown some Peggy has grown more it's hard for Nikki to believe but Peggy who is the same age as he is is taller than Nikki for the first time Peggy and Nikki remember the pictures that were made in school last year to help the children with their postures the Twins were the same height then weren't they here's Peggy a year ago about 4' 6 in tall and here's Nikki a year ago also about 4' 6 in tall they were about the same height last year according to the pictures if if you could look at the same kind of pictures showing Peggy and Nikki since they were six you'd see that they have both grown about the same amount each year this is the way most girls and boys grow up in the year 6 to 11 generally neither one grows much faster than the other but then some girls begin to shoot up they grow faster than before Peggy is one of those girls many boys of the same age are still growing slowly Nikki is one of those in school many of the boys in Nikki's class have been thinking about how tall they are you can see that some are a little taller than others and some are heavier but most of the boys are still growing slowly what about the girls in the same grade when Peggy and her class are in the gym we can see that the girls are growing different differently there's Peggy she's almost 3 in taller than she was last year some of the other girls have also changed quite a bit during the last year at this age the girls differ in size more than the boys do your growth is controlled by a set of glands known as endocrine glands you have many kinds of endocrine glands but one inside your head known as the pituitary gland controls your growing in height this gland makes a chemical and send it out into your bloodstream which causes you to grow taller in your neck is another gland called the thyroid gland which affects your weight and also the way you feel chemicals from these and other endocrine glands help boys and girls grow up in into men and women as they grow different parts of their bodies grow at uneven rates a boy's hands May grow full size before his arms grow full length his feet will be full grown before his legs his brain reaches full size fairly early his heart not until later girls will notice in addition to these changes extensive changes in their body shape they may gain weight rapidly in certain parts of their bodies and then as they stretch out will become more feminine in their proportions so growing up is an uneven process different between boys and girls different between parts of your body different at different ages each one grows in his own way is there something special you should be doing to be sure you're growing up normally keep healthy Nikki and Peggy know and you know good health rules eat the right Foods a balanced diet of all the different kinds of foods you need to feed your growing body remember milk has calcium important for rapid growth in your bones chew your Foods well so your body can make best use of their nourishment and you may find you need extra food for your growing large meals and the right kind of extra snacks between meals get plenty of exercise easy exercise if it's soon after meals and hard fast moving exercise some of the time get plenty of relaxation too for your growing body needs periods of rest get enough sleep especially when you're growing for Sleep repairs and refreshes your body if Nikki and Peggy could look ahead they'd see that Peggy's rapid growth in height and weight will be over in a few years perhaps by the time she's 14 what about Nikki in a few years it will be his turn to begin a rapid increase in height and weight look at the boys who were 12 and 13 you'll see more differences in their height than among boys who were 10 and 11 some boys of 12 and 13 have grown quite tall but because different parts of their bodies are growing more rapidly than others some of the boys seem awkward and gangly and some are not much bigger than they were last year they've not yet started to shoot up in the years to come Peggy will continue to grow but not much taller like most girls she will gain weight her hips will broaden and her body will become rounder and more feminine in shape she will probably reach her full height by the time she is 15 or 16 Nikki will keep on growing in height and in weight like most boys he will grow taller and heavier than girls his age his shoulders will broaden his muscles will grow stronger he will become more like a man his growth in height will continue probably even past 17 Peggy and Nikki have shown us average growth but all children are not average each person is an individual and will grow differently from others his age although all children do not grow up just the way Peggy and Nikki are growing after the age of 9 or 10 girls are likely to grow tall sooner than boys this is a change from the earlier years when growth was fairly steady and about the same for girls and boys but when the boys begin their rapid increase in growth most of them grow taller and heavier than girls remember your growth is controlled by endocrine glands one of them your pituitary gland affects your growth in height your thyroid gland affects your growth in weight and affects your feelings too chemicals from glands make girls more like women and boys more like men remember growing up is an uneven process different between boys and girls different between parts of your body and different at different ages each one grows in his own way whatever your particular growth pattern is you can be pretty sure it will be normal if you keep healthy with the right amount and the right kinds of foods with the right kind of exercise and relaxation with the right amount of sleep growing up is fun but everyone grows in his own way Peggy's girlfriend is taller and heavier than Peggy but both of the girls are taller and heavier than Nikki and his friend they know as we do that different boys and girls naturally follow different growth patterns during the years when they are growing up into men and women