The first signs of puberty in boys and how to spot them
Recognising the first signs of puberty in your male child (or child with testicles) can be a bit trickier than it can be in females (or bodies with ovaries).
Especially if your child doesn’t walk around the house naked anymore. 😉
Why is it trickier? It’s trickier because females (or bodies with ovaries) usually have more obvious signs, like breasts, that can’t be hidden under clothing.
Whereas the first sign of puberty in males is usually hidden, and can only be seen under their clothing. So as a parent, you’d only see them if you saw your child naked.
You’ll find more information about puberty for children with testicles on my Male Puberty page, and everything else about puberty on my Puberty 101 page. And you can read this blog post if you’re curious about the signs of puberty in girls (or kids with ovaries).
Puberty is one of those topics that is very much about your biological sex and gonads (ovaries and testicles). So, to avoid confusion, I’ll predominantly use the terms ‘male’ and ‘female’ throughout this blog post.
Let’s get started!
A NOTE ABOUT SEX AND GENDER. Sex and gender exist on spectrums. This page will use the term ‘female’, ‘male’ and/or ‘intersex’ to refer to the sex assigned at birth. It will use the terms ‘girl’ and ‘boy’ to refer to children who are cisgender, i.e. a child who was born with ovaries and identifies as a girl, or a child who was born with testicles and identifies as a boy. In regards to gender-diverse children, refer to the information that matches their gonads (ovaries or testicles), as gonads drive puberty and they are responsible for making bodies change. Click here to learn more about sex and gender.
When to expect the first signs of puberty in males
So when should you expect to see the first signs of puberty in male children?
For males, puberty usually starts around 2 years later than it does for females.
So for males, puberty usually begins around the age of 10 to 12. It can be as early as 9 (yes, that early) or as late as 12-15.
And the changes can take anywhere from 2 to 5 years to be finished.
Every child is different, and puberty will begin when their body is ready for it. You can’t rush it!
The timing of puberty is influenced by many things – diet, body weight and their environment. The chances are, that if you were an early or late bloomer, that your child will be as well.
What are the first signs of puberty?
Although the timing of puberty can be different for every child, the sequence of changes is much more predictable. There is a usual pattern of changes that we can expect to see in males.
We can expect emotional and physical changes that will prewarn us that puberty is coming.
Emotional signs of puberty
When we think of the emotional signs of puberty in children, we tend to think of them only happening in females. But they also occur in males, especially in the very beginning, before you start to see the physical changes.
Mood changes can often be the first sign of puberty in males (in females too).
You may begin to see mood swings as their body adapts to the surge of hormones they are now experiencing. One moment, they may feel happy and then very angry the next. Males are just as likely as females, some say even more likely, to become more upset or angry during the early stages of puberty.
Some kids also act more impulsively during puberty.
Find practical tools to educate kids about puberty in the Sex Ed Shop
Physical signs of puberty
Unlike females, the physical signs of puberty in males are much harder to spot as they are usually hidden under their clothing. And if your child is shy with being naked, then you will miss some of the early physical signs.
You’ll start to see physical changes anywhere between the ages of 11 to 13, depending on how observant you are or on how much nudity you see in your child. And remember every child is different – some kids will be earlier or later than their friends. And some may have changes in a slightly different order!
Usually, before anything else, you’ll notice they have gone up a shoe size or two. So, you can expect their feet and hands to have a growth spurt, and for them to suddenly be a lot taller.
As their feet grow, you might begin to notice smelly feet for the first time (or their feet may be smellier than they normally are). Their body may even begin to smell or pong, especially after they have been outside running around for a while.
The next changes are not so obvious to spot, unless you know what you are looking for. Their testicles will grow slightly larger, and their scrotum will hang lower, become darker in colour, thinner and be less smooth.
They will begin to grow more hair on their legs and under their arms, in their armpits for the first time. Fine pubic hair begins to grow at the base of the penis and scrotum. These first hairs are usually long and slightly curly. For some kids though, hair growth may not begin until they are over 13.
The penis may have grown a little wider but now, as their testicles continue to grow and their pubic hair begins to become darker, thicker and curlier, their penis will start to change. Their penis will now begin to grow longer. Erections will also be a lot more common than ever before, often happening when they least expect it.
As their muscles begin to grow larger and their shoulders broader, some kids may get short-term swelling and tenderness around their nipples i.e. grow breasts. This usually happens around the age of 12 to 14, and any breast development will usually disappear within a year or two.
Males will continue to grow taller and wider, with hair growth continuing on their legs and under their arms.
Sometime between the age of 13 to 16, they’ll begin to produce sperm. They may begin to have their first wet dreams and ejaculate for the first time when masturbating. For the first time, their voice may also begin to break or crack as their vocal cords change and their voice deepens.
Between 14 to 18, your child will now start to grow facial hair and their skin may become oily with pimples. Chest hair may also begin to grow for some people, the amount depending on how hairy the other males in their family are.
During all of this, kids will continue to grow taller and wider as their muscles develop and grow.
Remember to use resources
More help with puberty
The Parents’ Guide to Puberty takes you through the changes in the order they tend to arrive, with the words for each one. Body hair, body smell, growth, voice changes, erections and wet dreams, so you can tell him what’s coming before it turns up and surprises him.
A lot of the awkwardness here is about privacy rather than the facts, which is worth knowing before you start.
And if you want the wider picture of what’s ahead, Puberty 101 has the rest of it.
There are lots of resources to help you with talking about puberty with your child!
Books can become your best friend, and there are lots of wonderful puberty books for boys, with even more puberty books to be found, sorted into ages and topics, in my list of books about puberty for children.
Videos can be another helpful resource, and you’ll find them in my blog post on puberty videos.
Don’t forget to also look at my puberty resources, as there is more good stuff in there!
Looking for more puberty resources? Then visit my Puberty 101 page!
So, these are the signs of puberty in boys (or kids with testicles) that you should be looking out for and are the ones that signal that it is time to start talking.
With males it can sometimes be harder to spot these changes. especially if they don’t walk around the house naked! But once you begin to see these signs of puberty in your child, you’ll know that puberty is well and truly, on its way.
And hopefully, you’ll start talking before too many more changes will have happened.
Happy talking!
❤️ Cath
References
- Adolescence and Puberty. Edited by John Bancroft and June Machover Reinisch. 1990. Oxford University Press. New York.
- Gender Differences at Puberty. Edited by Chris Haywood. 2003. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
- Handbook of Child and Adolescent Sexuality: Developmental and Forensic Psychology. Edited by Daniel S. Bromberg and William T. O’Donohue. 2013. Elsevier. Academic Press. Oxford.
- Puberty: Physiology and Abnormalities by Philip Kumanov and Ashok Agarwal. 2016. Springer International Publishing. Switzerland.