Recently I’ve been having hard times at school. Other girls have started saying cruel things to me, just because I look different to them. I’m almost 14 years old – but they kept saying I look like a ten year old!

This made me question myself, am I normal? Why am I the only one who is different? Just because I have no breasts and no acne, everyone is laughing at me! The bullying got so bad that I didn’t want to go to school anymore.

One day I pretended that I was sick. I stayed home and spent the whole day reading Springster stories online. I learnt that puberty is the process when a young body physically matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. At this stage girls bodies become curvier, their hips bone widen and they start to experience their periods. Different people go through puberty at different ages. On average girls experience puberty between ages 10 - 14 but this isn’t always the case, some girls experience it earlier or later. I was so relieved to find out that I am a completely normal human being.

Learning all this new information about my body. taught me to be content with who I am and to trust in the process. Growing up is a journey and everyone’s journey is different. So rather than compare yourself to other people be grateful for what you have. Without your body you wouldn’t be able to breath, eat or walk. So celebrate and appreciate it no matter how it looks. Reading about how my body evolves helped me learn the truth and changed my perspective.

So now I love my body as it is and talk positively about it. This gave me courage to go to school the next day. As usual they started teasing me, I stood up for myself and told them confidently, “Just because I haven’t started my periods, grown boobs or gained weight or height doesn’t mean that I’m abnormal. I love my body and I’m happy to let it change naturally in its own time.”

I realised that I don’t have to internalise their negative words – their bullying is not about me, it’s about them. After I spoke to them like this, they stopped teasing me and discovered that I knew a lot about puberty. They wanted to know where I’d learned all my knowledge and I told them, “From Springster!”