How many times have you had a difficult moment with your six to eight year old where you’ve thought to yourself “Oh boy: there’s a preview of the next 10 years…”? Sometimes these mood swings, apparent hypersensitivity, and general angsty-ness can feel out of place with a small child who still loves playing with Barbies. But it turns out there’s actually a great reason for this: adrenarche. You can think about it kind of as “pre-puberty” and, honestly, we’re a little miffed no one told us about this…
Dr. Carmen Briner, a physician specializing in women and girl’s health, explains in a video posted to Instagram:
“Wondering why your 7 or 8 year old is suddenly so moody? Puberty starts way before you might think, with the brain signaling to the hypothalamus and pituitary glands to start secreting hormones, which happen before any visible physical changes of puberty start to take place. Puberty isn’t just about growth spurts and new body parts. These early hormonal shifts have a huge impact on their emotions. So you might notice increased sensitivity, sudden mood swings, or a newfound intensity in their feelings. They are not being difficult on purpose.”
The main hormonal shift in question, during adrenarche, according to the Cleveland Clinic, is the production of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). DHEA is a precursor hormone, which means your body will turn it into the puberty hormones you’re more likely to have heard of, including testosterone and estrogen. Bodies continue to produce DHEA into adulthood, reaching its zenith in the early-20s.
This, in turn, will begin to kick actual puberty into gear and you know the drill there: hair in new places, the development of breasts in girls, body odor, acne, all that fun stuff. Generally speaking, adrenarche will occur approximately two years before the beginning of true puberty. (Here’s another fun fact: the technical term for the beginning of puberty is pubarche.) (the beginning of puberty) starts.
As Dr. Briner mentioned in her video, there’s no physical sign of adrenarche begins, but moodiness, while not universal among all children in this developmental stage, may be a tell-tale sign.
And look, we get it: as parents, it feels like it’s always something. The fussy newborn stage, the Terrible Twos, threenagers, the stress of starting school, and now, apparently, the possibility of an angsty grade schooler thanks to adrenarche and that’s all before middle school. But try to take a breath, give your kid some grace — like Dr. Briner said, they aren’t trying to be difficult — and go ahead and extend some of that grace to yourself.