Why has my preteen daughter started growing armpit hair?

Question:

Why has my pre-teen daughter started growing armpit hair? She's 10!

Answer:

Auxiliary hair, such as armpit hair, can show up in a typical girl anywhere from 10 to 16 years of age. The average time for developing auxiliary hair is 11. So your daughter is within the normal range.

Question:

But a hedge?  At 10?  It's as thick as mine, black as midnight and hard to keep trimmed back.  Not to mention the 'other' place.  Could sex with our neighbor's boy have spurred this? I'm worried.

Answer:

The color and thickness of pubic and auxiliary hair are determined by genetics and time in development, not by actions. Sexual behavior typically comes because a child has started developing. The exception to this rule is when a child has been sexually abused. Then a child may act in a sexual way from imitating the behavior forced on them. But such is out of character for a child, which is why we rightly get upset by it. However, sexual behavior doesn't cause development.

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