Coming of Age

That arduous process of growing up generates tales of joy, pain, and revelation. Share your tales of Coming of Age and learn from others' experiences of metamorphosis from child to adult.

THIS TIME ON COMING OF AGE - X IS FOR...

X is for...XXX.

I say this only because our modern world today seems totally focused around porn and sex symbols and having sex early. Young girls are starting to have sex earlier and earlier and it's sad that there's an increasingly smaller number of us that want to save that sort of thing for the 'one.' Megz from United States

X is for...Xoxo!

Xoxoxoxoxoxo! I LOVE PURPLEPJS!!!!! You guys are my road map to life! Kara Beth, 15 from

Shan's comment: Aww Kara Beth! So glad to hear we can help

X is for...XXX Pics

Please, don't take racy pictures and send them to someone by email or text. Why do so many teens do stupid things like that? Those pictures can be seen by others in a second. Don't pull a Vanessa Hudgens...or your rep will be ruined! Hmm, 15 from United States

X is for...X-rays!

X-rays when we break our bones!!! Ouch! =] sarah, 16 from Montana, USA

CALLING ALL PJERS (yet again!)

Shan's comment: As you can tell, we're so close to finishing the A-Z of Coming of Age (noooo) but don't despair, because after it's all done and dusted, I'm asking you lovely ladies to come and be a BIG part of my Coming of Age Spring Clean!

After the A-Z is finished, I'm giving COA a major clean up! I'll be polishing up old techniques and introducing news ones, but what I'm really excited about is the new general format and premise of the page (devised with a lot of help from the magical Lana over at Got Faith?). Coming of Age is going to become more issue-based with a focus on helping you guys to deal with difficult situations, rather than the advice-based format it previously dipped in and out of (PPJs has already got such an incredible range of advice pages, I don't want to push in on their territory ).

So every week after the A-Z is finished, I'm going to be posting up an article on one particular problem/confusing event/horribly misunderstood debate that is relevant to YOU, issues such as eating disorders, family, cyber bullying and maaany more. I'll also be providing relevant website links you can use to follow up on any of the subjects talked about. As usual, I'll tell you the week beforehand what issue will be being discussed and it'd be great if you lovely lot could send in your own experiences on the subject to add to what I've already said in the article, because as the old saying goes 'Two heads are better than one'

So all I need is your help to talk and give advice to all the other girls around the world experiencing and needing to hear the same stuff you're needing to hear. So keep on submittingsubmittingsubmitting (I've already had some great submissions) and once the A-Z has finished, the spring clean will begin!

Lots of cleaning love,
Shan xx

PS. Just to give you a heads up, the first issue I'll be writing about is the rise in single-parent families and the effects of parents getting divorced on teens.

NEXT TIME ON COMING OF AGE...

Y is for...

Young, yearning and (wh)y! Send me any of your Y Coming of Age experiences!

Got any great ideas for a topic you'd like to see on Coming of Age? Want to put your point across on a subject close to your heart? If so, then don't hesitate to drop me an idea (I love hearing what you've got to say!) by clicking here.