Moms of girls - female content

[NorCalMom]

:001_huh: Oh my. Was she tall and/or chubby? Or still very much skinny, short, little kid? Dn is turning 11 next month, and looks very much like a little girl still....

 

She is average height (75th percentile) and slender. She is a dancer, so we really expected that she would have a late start. She has no other signs (breast buds, acne, hair, etc). We were blown away. It happened while she was in ballet class. She was alarmed (& emotional), but she understood what was happening, thank goodness.

[NorCalMom]

IMO, it is easier when done gradually. When she is preschool age and needs to be in the bathroom with you (because you are in public or can't be left alone in the house, etc.) she notices that you are changing pad/tampon and you say casually, "women bleed every month and it doens't hurt. (you may have to lie on that point. :tongue_smilie: ) It's so they can have babies". That's the first part of OUR sex ed and it goes on from there as a gradual/casual conversation so we never have to sit down and do ''THE TALK''.

 

 

Yes, we handled this very much the same way. Although, it was quite embarrassing one day at Costco when my then 3 yr. old dd pointed out the tampax and asked quite loudly if I needed them for my bottom! :tongue_smilie:

[OnTheBrink]

I got:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Care-Keeping-You-American-Library/dp/1562476661/ref=pd_sim_b_3

 

I did block out a couple pages at first... the ones about tampons (Or tampoons as my dd first called them :lol:). I thought it was a little over the top.

 

Other than that, it was the best thing ever. She would read it and ask questions, and that was it. She started about a year after I gave her the book with little fan fair.

 

I was very happy with it. :)

 

Same here.

[Forget-Me-Not]

Haven't read the other replies. We're pretty open around here about potty usage (my kids are still very young). At least two of my kids have noticed blood or me using feminine items and asked about it, and it led into a very natural discussion about how women bleed once a month when they don't have babies in their tummies. My mom was the same way. I don't remember ever NOT knowing about it.

 

ETA: AF= Auntie Flo

Edited May 27, 2011 by LemonPie

[Peela]

I also talked about it from a very young age, in small snippets of information, so it was never one big lot of information at once.

I remember at age 11 learning what s*x was in s*x ed class at school. And all about periods in the year before that. Honestly, I was so shocked that no one had told me something so incredibly, fundamentally important before then. By 11 one is a young woman! It actually undermined my trust in my parents and I spent years wondering what else they hid from me.

I also didnt want my kids knowing from other kids, and even though they were homeschooled, they still interacted with schooled kids who were less than naive about things.

I tried to make it as natural and matter of fact as possible.

I didn't want my dd to use tampons at first, either. BUt she was almost 15 when hers started- and she was on camp with her friend who had been having periods since she was 12. So she just handed dd her tampons to use. Great. But so matter of fact and natural that I just accepted it, and that it was probably the most perfect way for dd to start- with her best friend's support. A real girl event.

[NanceXToo]

I think she was kind of "aware" early on even without a formal talk; after all, I keep my products out at that time of month, shop for them when she's with me and so on, always answered any questions she might have and so on.

 

But I think she was 9 when we "formally" went over it which came from reading "The Body Book For Girls" (American Girl Library) together.

 

I didn't expect her to get her period for another couple of years (I was 11) but, still, I wanted to be matter of fact about it and I wanted her to DEFINITELY know about it before time just slipped away and she ended up getting her period with no clue as to what it was!

[unsinkable]

Thanks for the Aunt Flo explanation. I'm a dork.

 

That must be a regional expression. I've NEVER heard it around here. I think I was in college out west the first time I heard.