As I get older and my brain is running out of room to efficiently store everything, I find that there are a certain few years that are still as clear as ever. Yes, puberty. Anything that happened between the ages of about ten to fourteen -every slight, every fashion faux pas, every boy that smiled at me, even my school lessons -is etched in my mind forever. And the music! Every song I heard was super meaningful: the Doors, the Carpenters, the Spinners, the Grass Roots, the Beatles’ early solo songs (Got to pay dues if you wanna sing the blues, and you know it don’t come easy...). Do you have super clear memories of puberty, or is that just me? Let me know in the comments, but also enjoy a look at the lighter side of puberty. Lighter that is, if you are way past it.

Puberty -What’s That? a remix of many educational films.

Watch puberty happen in a hurry! This is a cute presentation, made for educating kids. (via Bits and Pieces)

The beginnings of romance. This is both sweet and painful.

Chris at Death By Children wrote  a hilarious essay on the cognitive dissonance that occurs when a man’s obsession sprouts from the body of his litle princess.

Educational film about puberty for girls from 1953. And here’s one from 1957 for boys. As the copy states, girls were advised to avoid squaredancing and horseback riding during their periods, and the main focus was how to stay clean. No mention of sex. The boys are taught by their coach, who explains masturbation and sex.

On Becoming a Woman by Harold Shryock, M.A, M,D. (1951) Part One. Part Two. The Chapter on Homosexuality. Yep, that’s the way sex education was done when I was a kid. Then during high school, when we really needed advice, it was non-existent. By the time I got to college, attitudes had changed completely, and we had Our Bodies, Our Selves.

Mario and Luigi explain Puberty. Check out the magic condom boots!

THE BOOK

As a newly hired reference librarian, I was trying to be extra sensitive to the needs of our patrons. When an ill-at-ease adolescent boy approached me and in a barely audible voice, asked for books on "beginning to develop," I was prepared.

He seemed embarrassed to be talking to me, so I called over a male staff member and whispered that the boy needed some books about the onset of puberty.

A while later they returned to my desk, my colleague with a big grin on his face, and the boy with books on photography.

PLAYING DOCTOR

After discovering her young daughter playing doctor with the neighbor's boy, the angry mother grabbed the boy by the ear and dragged him to his house and confronted his mother.

"It's only natural for young boys and girls to explore their sexuality by playing doctor at their age," the neighbor said.

"Sexuality my ass!" The mother yelled. "He took out her appendix!"

Wonder Showzen explains Aunto Flo warning: disturbing (via Fuzzytopia)

Previously at Miss Cellania: Sex Education

Thought for today: When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years. - Mark Twain

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