Girls seem to get so much more education about puberty than boys. This is probably because girls are going to start having their period, a significant development in their life, and they need to know what to do.

For boys, puberty is also a time of unexpected physical changes that need some explanation, too.

How Hormones Affect Boys

Your son has probably experienced erections at some time in his life because an erection is initiated by the brain. Hormones are not involved. A big change happens during puberty. The testicles begin producing a hormone called testosterone. Testosterone tells male glands (like the seminal vesicles and prostate gland) to produce a fluid. This fluid mixes with the sperm on their journey from the testicles to the penis and the mixture is called semen. Semen is released from the penis during an ejaculation. Ejaculations don’t start until puberty.

Now that the adolescent boy can have ejaculations, it is highly likely he will also experience nocturnal emissions, more commonly called wet dreams.

What happens is that while he is sleeping, he will have an ejaculation and semen is ejected from his penis.

This usually comes as a very big surprise for most boys. They wake up in the morning to find a sticky fluid on their clothes. Many boys are confused and too embarrassed to let anyone know what happened because they think they might have wet the bed. But then they are left not knowing what to do to handle the situation.

Teach Boys About Their Anatomy

This is why when parents ask me about how to approach this, I recommend they teach their son about how semen is made and explain what happens during an ejaculation before they experience a wet dream. Explain that not all boys experience these but he might and it’s perfectly normal. It is also a good idea to give him an extra set of bed linens in his room so he can be discrete in the morning if he needs to put items in the wash.

In my book, I’m a Boy, Hormones!, I explain these topics using anatomy figures and illustrations. I discuss how wet dreams occur to help parents as they educate their sons.

But They Aren’t Going to Want to Talk About It

Most boys don’t want to talk about this with their mother or father. This is OK, you don’t have to press the issue with him. Just leave the book in his room and he can learn it on his own. If you really want to talk to him about this topic, you can use the book as a framework for your discussion, maybe after he’s had some time to review it.