When did your son's voice break ?

[Gunznroses]

DS is nearly 11, and been talking a lot lately about older boys at school whose voices have "broken", it just got me wondering, how exactly does it happen ? did your ds just wake up one morning and sounded like Barry White ? or was it more subtle than that, was it gradual and you didnt notice ? what's the average age it tends to happen ?

I think i'll miss ds lovely squeaky voice

DS1 will be 16 in Nov, and am still waiting for his voice to go....there have been a couple of times recently when it has sounded a bit deeper when he has first started talking, then that impression has gone...your comments that some change gradually whilst others do it apparently overnight are reassuring.

Just hoping that DS2's voice doesn't break first....

I'm a secondary school teacher. Most happen around year 8, some earlier, some later. The biggest change happens between year 9 and 10. They come back in year 10 and they're like grown men!

Oh and some don't 'break' they just gradually go a bit deeper...

I found this through Google, it's not the whole article as it wasn't really relevant.

This larger larynx also gives boys deeper voices. Actually, girls' voices get a little bit deeper as their larynxes get larger, too. But because boys' larynxes grow so much more, it makes their voices deeper than girls' voices.

The larynx doesn't grow to its new size overnight, though. If you've ever heard a teenage boy's voice sound squeaky, you've heard a larynx trying to get adjusted to its new size!

My own Ds doesn't show any signs of an enlarged larynx. He's over 6ft tall now, but has no underarm hair which he's very embarrassed about. He is hairy 'at the middle' though .

DD1 has just returned from a Y9 school trip and said one of the lads suddenly went all squeaky.

Like Thea's DS, my DS was a cathedral chorister too so I was aware of the voice-breaking issue.

Boys had to leave the choir at the end of year 9 unless their voice had broken (which happened to some in year 8 and 9). DS's voice started to change during the summer holiday at the end of year 9. He was just 14. There was no squeakiness at all. It was more that his singing range shifted down.

13 but they obviously get deeper as time goes on, it's deeper now he's 16 and family member of mine have had quite the change in their voice between it breaking and say 21.

My son has recently turned 13 and his voice in the last 6 months or so has gradually got deeper. I don't recall any squeaking, it seems to have been a gradual thing for him. His voice isn't as deep as my husband yet but not too far off. When I hear him talking elsewhere in the house sometimes I think a visitor has arrived, I'm still getting used to hearing my little boy sounding more like a man, awww :)

My DS2 had the worlds squeakiest voice .. think pinky and perky and I wondered how on earth he would sound. When he was 11 we went to Florida on holiday for two weeks.. when we arrived he had a high voice and straight blonde hair.
When we came back his voice had dropped massively and his hair was all wavy! Within a couple of months he had a deep husky voice and afro curls!! Totally bizarre!!
He also shot up at an incredible rate and was 6 ft by 14..he's 15 now. The curly hair has stayed too and no one who didn't know him before , believes it just 'turned' at puberty!

Ah Medusa, it's that American beef...all those hormones. Or maybe you just swapped him for someone else's kid without realising?

Ah and that hair thing also happened to a female university friend- she went through a phase of having her (very straight) hair cut very short during her teens, hit puberty at some point over that time, and when she let her hair grow again, it was hyper-curly.

hormones does that to hair -mine was straight until pregnancy

but back to the subject
My 14yo DB's voive hasn't broken which he is very embarassed about as all his friends have, but there is a random selection of squeaky/booming mumblers showing up at my mum's house -bless 'em!

Yes, my hair does the straight/curly thing depending on my hormones. It always goes straight when I've had babies and until I stop breastfeeding!

My dds hair went curly at puberty, mine also went curly when I became premenopausal.

DP's voice never broke - he sounds like an adult, not a child, although his voice is fairly similar to his childhood voice in the same way an adult woman/girl's voice is similar but deeper. He still goes squeaky if he is stressed or anxious.

I don't think I've ever heard a boy's voice break! I wasn't really friends with many boys at around that age and don't have any brothers (well a half brother but he's 10).

at a few months under 12 - no squeakiness - first in class to do so so v happy with that!

He was 13

He shouted something from his bedroom one morning. I jumped and was convinced we had a burglar...

Around about 13 for my two eldest (now aged 16 and 14). For both of them, it seemed to happen imperceptibly - there was none of that deep voice cracking to a squeaky voice that I was led to expect. When it happened to ds1 it was disconcerting as I would hear a man's voice in the house, know that dh was at work, and momentarily panic, thinking someone had broken into the house! Interestingly, given that you said you would miss your son's squeaky voice, my ds2 had a very high voice and was often teased about it when he was at primary school, so when his voice broke , I was happy for him.

O#Just came on Mumsnet for the first time since kids were babies...to ask this question. Poor boy! My son is a singer too and is just noticing that even when warmed up and without a cold, he can't guarantee what his voice is going to do! He's just been cast in the lead role of a musical and is a bit concerned!