do boys have a testosterone surge at 9yrs?

[ggirl]

well ds is 9.5

last week or so very grumpy/moody and extra sensitive
getting tearful about silly things

says there is nothing wrong at school or with his friends

just wondered if it could be a phase

bumpo

If he's beginning to enter adolescence, then the amount of testosterone in his body will start to rise significantly (it's not a surge as such - it continues throughout puberty), although nine is quite young for this to be happening. That said, the onset of puberty does vary according to the child, so it's possible.

It might be an incident at school that's triggered this behaviour and he may not feel able to talk about it. Are there other questions you could ask that might approach a possible upsetting experience/bullying etc. from a less direct angle?

thanks for your reply
he doesn't look like he's entering pubery iykwim , still small and child like

Have asked about school and friends , he's adamant there is nothing wrong, getting pissed off with me asking tbh.

will ask in a round about way as you suggested thanks

Couple of other thoughts - how's he sleeping? And has anything changed in his life recently that may have thrown him off-kilter?

Sleeps like a log
and nothing really has changed
his big sister has just been home for a weekend from uni but her absence doesn't phase him ..I think ,she's been gone for long periods of time before

he's all cuddly again atm ...changes like the wind

Enjoy the cuddles!

DS1 is 9.6 and recently he's been a bit off too. We put up with it for a week and when he finally calmed down, I asked what the problem was. His answer was that he'd realised that DH and I were not perfect/ infallible and he was irritated that we were in charge of him! I googled it and it does seem to be a short developmental phase at this age. The books say that its only short lived and then you get your lovely son back for a while more until the teenage years begin.

meredeux-that's reassuring thanks
where did you find that info

I could only find stuff on a surge at age 4

I just googled and found this. www.scholastic.com/resources/article/the-moody-blues

The key part for me is:-
Encourage your child's budding judgment. Starting at about age 8, children begin to develop the ability to think and reflect in abstract and logical ways, to look at the world from other people's perspectives, and to formulate their own ideas. Sadly, you will no longer be seen as godlike and faultless. So when your arguments are challenged more frequently, regard it as a sign of your child's healthy development, rather than as something that needs to be squashed. Realize that you will probably have to frame your reasoning more carefully than you did when your child was younger ? chances are, "Because I said so!" will no longer suffice.

You will find similar articles if you google "boy age 9 behaviour change"

When my son started to go through this, we were shocked at first and initially responded by telling him off. Over the next two days things got worse.

So I read up about it, and decided to give DS some space. I told him I loved him and I trusted him then I turned a very deaf ear/ blind eye to his new behaviour. As soon as we had a good day - two days later - I congratulated him on conquering the bad feelings. It worked and he is more or less back to the lovely boy we've always known (at least until the next phase!).

meredeux- thanks that article is immensely helpful !!
Sounds exactly like my ds is acting.