Thank you for downloading the Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast. You can find more helpful advice at

Focus on the Family.com slash parenting podcast.

Children go through so many changes during adolescence. So many emotional changes occur.

It's really normal. For pre-teens to experience more intense feelings or for their self-confidence to take a nose dive.

Today we're going to help you encourage your kids as they deal with common emotions and fears like,

what if nobody likes me and what if I don't measure up and what if I'm

John Fuller along with Dr Danny Wertha he's a licensed clinical social worker

and heads up our parenting department here at Focus on the Family.

Today we're going to hear a conversation that Jim Daly and I had with Danny and author

Jesse Manassie in a while back.

We discussed how to talk to kids about the physical changes that happen during adolescence.

Jesse, let me ask you, the discussion with girls is a different discussion obviously, and there are three guys sitting here with you so you've got to represent this.

I don't even know what that discussion's like because with young girls there's so much that's going to take place with their body.

I mean again they're going to develop their

breasts will develop they're going to have their first period. It's very

different from the boys boys basically they're just going to smell bad. So

they've got to you know make sure hygiene is somewhere in their in their

daily, hopefully daily routine. But boys do compare size though, Jeff.

Yes. Yeah, muscles and I went through that in high school. Yeah, but the but the point is it's more complicated at least from where I sit maybe you say no

No, but what what is a mom particularly in that discussion with the daughter, how do you handle that gingerly and with the right attitude?

Yeah, that's difficult because they're going through and starting their menstrual cycle.

That's a very traumatic thing for a young

...