Adolescence: A Stage of Growth and Change
The stages of life
Learn about the stages of life, from a seed to a grown plant and in people too.
Think of a plant. A seed germinates, becomes a sapling, then a young plant. It grows taller, puts out more leaves, and later makes flowers, fruits and new seeds. But a tiny seedling cannot make seeds straight away. It has to grow and become mature first.
Animals are the same: they must grow up before they can have young ones. Some lay eggs that hatch; others, like humans, give birth to their young.
A human life has stages:
| Stage | Roughly |
|---|---|
| infancy | the first couple of years |
| childhood | until about 10 |
| adolescence | about 10 to 19 |
| adulthood | from about 20 |
| old age | later life |
Everyone goes through them at their own pace, and each stage lasts a different time for different people.
Until about 10–12 years, most changes are in height and weight. Then other changes begin. That is the start of adolescence: a time of fast growth, when the body gets ready for adulthood.
The changes are physical, emotional and behavioural, and the body also becomes able to reproduce (have children one day). Some changes you can see; others happen inside and go unnoticed.
Three words that sound alike:
- Adolescence: the whole bridge from childhood to adulthood, about 10–19.
- Teenage: 13 to 19, the numbers that end in teen.
- Puberty: the part of adolescence when the body becomes able to reproduce (more in lesson 6.3).
Practise this lesson
Questions that get harder as you improve, a Tutor that helps without giving the answer away, and progress you can see. Free for every learner.
No account, no email address. Opens the real product.