Scarleteen

Hi, I am a thirteen year old boy and puberty is getting kinda rough. I see my friends in the locker room with large amounts of hair under their arms and their voices are super deep, and I'm the one out of my group that doesn't have either. It's kind of embarrassing and I am asking you guys because asking my parents is kind of awkward.. and when I simply make a post I'm not really breaking that weird boundary. So anyway, back on the subject, I often wonder why I can't be like them. They don't make fun of me about it, it's a conscious battle I have almost everyday. I have also noticed I am a tad shorter than them and I realize not everyone is the exact same and genes have a lot to do with all of that but, it's kinda awkward being in the middle of people who are like five four and I am five one.. it's like I am surrounded by giants. Great big giant 7th grade football players.

I really want to call a band "Great Big Giant 7th Grade Football Players" now.

I hear you, puberty can be rough, especially right at the start of it, which is where you and your friends are (in fact a lot of 13-year-old dudes won't have even started yet, which may even be the case with you), where where folks are at with it is all over the place. People who started earlier are way ahead of people who haven't at all. I'm a short person, but I was early to it myself, so for a hot minute, I was a little taller than everyone else...then I just watched them all keep getting taller and taller while I stayed my same height for the rest of my life. Alas. (And now, with the onset of middle age, I've started shrinking, for crying out loud.)

The answer for why one person is behind another in puberty, or why any part of your body is different than someone else's is mostly just genetics, which are outside our control. It sounds like your friends aren't being jerks about this difference, so what do you feel like you need to accept and feel better about it?

Thank you Heather, I definitely feel better now. One thing is for sure though.. I have NEVER lost at arm wrestling with them!
XD