Starting the “period discussion” with your daughter #kotexmom

I remember when I was a kid, my mom never talked to me about getting my period. Ever! I learn a tiny bit from school, during the “Big Talk”. You know the one, the girls go off to one room, the boys to another, and then they tell you bits and pieces of what is going on with your body and what is to come.

I remember feeling even more confused after those talks. But I was in 5th grade, and it didn’t seem like it actually applied to me, at least not for a long time. So the following year, when I got my period, unexpectedly, I didn’t feel comfortable talking to my mom about it. Luckily I had a friend who had a very open relationship with her parents, and she was completely up to speed, and helped me. But my mom was mad at me for not coming to her, even though, trying to talk to me about it made her squirm

Years later, I found out that my mom had handled it as best as she could. He experience with her mom was even worse. She had her first period in school, and knowing nothing, was in such pain, the school nurse sent her to the hospital, where they informed her what was going on. She was sent home to tell her mom, my Grandmother, who in turned yelled at her for telling the school.

I always swore my kids wouldn’t be like that. I always wanted a very open relationship my kids. And in most ways I have been very successful. But not with telling my daughter about puberty and her period. She knew where babies came from, in basic terms, even if she didn’t full understand it, she knew what had to happen. But some how, even with explaining that, her period never came up. and I didn’t really know how to tell her.

So when I started this ambassadorship, I knew it was time. If she was at an age that she (and therefore I) qualified into the U by Kotex Tween age group, it was time to start talking. But I didn’t know where to start or how much to tell her, not really. So I was actually took advantage of the information available on the U by Kotex Tween website and on the Hello period site.

I started off by telling her the basics. I didn’t want to overwhelm her or make it sound like this was a horrible scary thing. Once she knew the basics, and in case her period were to show up unexpectedly, she wouldn’t freak, I asked if she had any questions. She had a few, but none that I thought she would. Her biggest concern was making sure that her eggs were not the same as chicken eggs. I figured at age 8, she didn’t need all the details, just enough to understand, and lead to a followup discussion in the near future.

My way of discussing period facts with my daughter is slowly introducing her to the concepts and getting her adjusted. How did you, or would you, will you talk to your daughter about it? I would love to hear your ideas.

I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.