What happens to girls?

The following changes start to show in girls at around age 10 or 11:

• body fat increases, particularly on the hips, thighs and breasts
  
  
• hips widen
  
  
• pubic and underarm hair appears (sometimes hair also appears on the upper lip, arms, and around the nipples – this is normal)
  
  
• breasts start to develop
  
  
• their first period (around 12, but can occur anywhere between 10 and 16). The increase in body fat is important. It protects muscles, bones and organs, as well as regulating female hormones and providing an energy store. Now is a
  good time to start telling your daughter how normal, attractive, and necessary these changes are. With thinness being
  fashionable we need to challenge the idea that nature got it wrong.