At the end of the school year, 5th graders (10-11 years old) in NYC public schools got a puberty lesson and learned about their changing bodies from an emotional and biological perspective. My kid came home informing me that the gym teacher told everyone they had to start wearing deodorant. I don’t remember learning about puberty until I was in 8th grade (late bloomer?) but the fact is that the age at which children begin puberty has been decreasing over the past 20 years. There are of course genetic and environmental causes for this, and its well know that growth-hormones are increasingly being added to milk, meat, and other food products. I wanted to pass along this article written by Dr. Joan Hardin — an amazing clinical psychologist who treats gut and hormonal health as central to psychological health–because it seems important that parents be mindful about the personal hygiene products we’re buying for kids. If the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported that parabens (the preservatives added to products that prevent microbial growth and increase the shelf life) have hormone-disrupting qualities that mimic estrogen and interfere with the body’s endocrine system, it’s probably a good idea to keep these products away from kids in their varying stages of development:
