Hormones and body odour

Nice sounding title for a blog post!

However, my eldest son must have suddenly hit a growth spurt or rather a growing up spurt. He is only 9 but the last few days I have smelt that distinctive BO smell from his right armpit, the left one is obviously a little behind as that still seems fine.

I mean he is 9, I am sure I didn't start using deodorant until I was over 11 and in senior school but perhaps boys are different, maybe I should see if my brother or mum remembers when he started using deodorant. Hubby cant remember when he did.

It has sent me a little off kilter though, he's 9 and suddenly needing deodorant, it seems such a big step out of the little boy domain into becoming a young man domain and although he is more than ready for it, it has made me wonder if I am as it makes me feel all nostalgic and sad! Stupid woman I know.

So what deodorant do you buy a child because at 9 he is still a child, I certainly don't want him wearing things like linx and smelling to high heaven, do you buy them roll on's or spray deodorant - I have no idea! I feel we need to be delicate about how we discuss this with him, as he is mildly autistic and has issues with using soap anyway. We are lucky in that he is happy to shower daily but he doesn't like the consistency of soap or shower gel or shampoo and I need to hover in the doorway to ensure he actually using it and then rubs it in rather than squirting a tiny bit on his hands, letting the water wash it off and then skimming his hands over the important bits. With these body changes though, other changes may well be on the horizon and it may no longer be alright for me to be hovering, and ensuring this is being done. By the time he showers, hubby is on his way to work. For the most part we need to employ 'over learning' with him so I guess this will be the same but at the same time you want to be sensitive to their feelings and approach it in a delicate way.

Are any other 9 year olds going through this, I need to find out from other mum's, with him being a loner, he doesn't have a big circle of friends so we don't tend to see people through the holidays.

I wonder if this means his hormones will be starting to kick in soon, if other things will be about to start happening in the near future, this could be the start of a new interesting/stressful period in our lives. It also makes me realise that living in a 3 bedroomed house, where the boys choose to share a room and the third small bedroom is my office, may be all about to change, as I am sure with this 'growing up' and body changes will also come more independence and less tolerance of the little brother and a need for his own space.

So as little Man enters year 5, I think he is also entering a new period of his life involving body changes and hormones - they seem to grow up so quickly (and yes I am sure our parents said the same).