this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
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To start: no, there are no "trusted male figures" in our lives. My brothers & father are all conservative, and I DO NOT trust them to properly explain things without shame and/or religious context.

My son knows the basics of reproduction, but I've never really explained what's "normal" things for a teenage boy to go through.. mainly because I don't know!

I've definitely put it off, so he's almost 14 and is much more physically mature than most of his peers (he's got hair in places, shaves his face regularly, etc.).. but I'm embarrassed to admit that I know next to nothing about anything else..

Could y'all help me out? What did you go through that he should know about? What should I know about?

Many thanks to anyone who can help. Please don't be unkind. Much appreciated.

EDIT: Thank you so much for all the advice so far!! Please keep it up!!

My son & I have very open communication & a very good relationship.

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[–] Wxfisch@lemmy.world 8 points 12 hours ago

Honestly, the majority of key points to talk about can be found online from respectable sources (for example, this article from Johns Hopkins, though there are many others). There is a better than even chance he has shady looked up the "Is this normal" stuff himself if he has normal internet access.

From a social standpoint it's going to be different for everyone, teenage years are hard and kids are often cruel. I'd advise to just be there for him on this front, but don't be pushy. He is going to be moody, lash out sometimes, and act differently. That is all normal. He is going to want to push boundaries and get in trouble (rather do things that will get him in trouble, most folks don't actually want to get in trouble). Give him safe room to explore who he is and to try new things without letting him fall down too hard.

Lastly, you say there are no trusted male figures in your life, but that doesn't have to be family. Good friends can also fill that space. I have to imagine there is some guy in your life that could have heart to heart, even just with you to then talk to your son. It's worth trying to broaden your expectation of what a trusted male figure is perhaps.

[–] gonzo-rand19@moist.catsweat.com 7 points 12 hours ago

My parents didn't really give me a talk, where I live we have pretty comprehensive sex education in school that starts at 8/9 and finishes around 14/15.

At 13, maybe he's already been given some kind of education about his body (especially since he already shaves and has already probably had wet dreams and discovered masturbation). Do you know what he already knows?

Family isn't going to work for you, but do you have male friends or work colleagues you trust enough to ask for advice?

[–] RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

For real, go to a library and ask a librarian for help.

They'll have various books aimed at different levels of maturity and reading levels. Get a book, read it yourself, then ask him to read it and talk about what you learned.

[–] Siathes@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 12 hours ago

As a father, I didn’t even know what to do or expect, we’re all messy, gross, and dumb at that age. The path I chose, was if they knew enough to ask a question, it was time for a discussion. Just pay attention, offer a safe environment for questions and be honest. Most of what they need to learn the world with teach them. Be there to fact check and maybe even learn together. Last tip… WE made biology gross and taboo, WE can make it less so for our kids.

[–] makeshiftreaper@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago (10 children)

First things first, I'd suggest looking into Big Brothers, Big Sisters if you're in America. I've been a part of their program and it's a great organization dedicated to helping kids exactly like this

OK, onto real advice: it sounds like you're a woman and one of the things you need to address early with young men is respect. He will become significantly stronger than you very soon. He will have a ton of hormones pumping through his body. He is going to become dangerous to himself and others. He will be curious about how strong he is. You have to make sure he explores that safety. This is something all men go through and it's important to have a good foundation or he can start spiraling down bad paths. You need to police his internet usage, his friends, and his role models or he could very easily start sliding into anti-women and abusive views

If he's not enrolled in any sort of physical activity I would encourage you to find one. He's going to have basically unlimited energy and channeling that into sports is usually better than the alternatives. That's also tricky because you need to pay attention to the leadership of those activities to ensure that they are good influences

Now the fun stuff: he is going to be hungry for the next 5 years. If you haven't grown up with boys it's hard to understand but he can eat 6000 calories in a day and barely notice. My family used to order 2 pizzas when I was a teen, I would eat an entire one and they would eat the other. I'm not exaggerating when I say my average food in a day was a full continental breakfast, 2 deli sandwiches, chips, a dessert and a soda for lunch, an after school snack (usually leftovers), a large dinner, and dessert. I'm not a fat guy, nor was I in school. You will likely think at some point "he can't possibly be eating that much food" and I assure you that he can

Ultimately what is important is that you have to build a good moral foundation for him. You will lose the ability to control him and when that happens all of the work you've done raising him will reflect in the way he acts

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[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

In this day and age with the internet, I doubt there's much he doesn't know about in terms of how it works.

I would pull up statistics on stds and on the cost of raising a kid. Explain to him that almost 1 in 8 people have herpes and it never goes away, and how teen pregnancy really can fuck up future opportunities.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 3 points 10 hours ago

I think today it is more important to counter the incorrect things a child could be learning from pornography than the basics like "your penis may get hard when you think about girls." They probably know the latter but not about STDs, unplanned pregnancy, and rape / sexual coercion being major problems.

[–] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 11 hours ago

Here's what I wish people had explained to me when I was approximately your son's age and which should cover most of what he's going through:

(I am assuming your son is heterosexual. If he is not, then you have to change this somewhat, but I can't help you with that very much because I'm heterosexual myself.)

You probably noticed that for a few years now, when you look at or think of girls, your penis gets hard and much bigger; this is because you started puberty. That is called an erection and is a completely normal thing to happen; it's your body telling you that it would like you to have sex with that girl. Erections will immediately go away when you ejaculate, which is a completely normal and very pleasurable thing to do. You can ejaculate without having sex with anyone by masturbating, that is, by rubbing your penis against your hands or some other object. It helps to think of beautiful girls when doing that. I have no problem at all with you doing this and you will never get in trouble for doing it or asking anyone any questions about it, but I insist that you do it when no one is watching, preferably in your own room.

[–] lurch@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 hours ago

In my region this is handled really well by schools. Parents don't need to worry about anything. Don't they do that in your region?

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 1 points 12 hours ago (5 children)

Have you reached out to his coaches/PE teachers at school?

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