It seems like only yesterday when I was ten years old and starting my period. Yes, I was ten and it was scary! It was scary because besides my mother telling me, “one day you’ll start your period and have cramps”, I didn’t really have any other information. My mother was older when she had me and by the time it would have been time to talk to me about starting and having my period, my mom had already hit menopause and didn’t have a period anymore. Maybe since she didn’t have one anymore she didn’t feel the importance in talking to me about it. I’m not sure. I didn’t even have pads or tampons in the house to read any information about anything. I didn’t even get the benefit of my kids, which is having the tampon pamphlet in the house. At least that could spark a conversation by one of them running across it and saying, “hey, what is this and what is this cartoon doing?”.
When it comes to having the talk with my own girls, it’s been hard. I hadn’t really approached the subject too much. I didn’t have experience from the conversation I had with my own mom and well, I didn’t want to tell them my actual experience with my period. It’s really been the worst. From horrible cramps to monthly flooding. It’s been a horrible experience and I hate sharing that information with them. Even though they’ve heard me complain about it for at least the last few years. So they know that well, it’s bad. Not to mention that now Kayla, my 13 year old is terrified because I have had an abnormal experience and have had my period for almost a year, solid. Yea, that is not something that is easy telling your daughter that “it’s not normal and you have a 99% chance of it NOT happening to you”.
This is why I’m glad that I’ve been chosen as a U by Kotex Tween Ambassador. It’s something that has really helped me approach the topic with my girls. Using their site about having the period talk has been amazing. There is so much useful information. After reading through the site, a few times, I found the best plan for having the discussion is just being straightforward.
Don’t wait like I did. I had to get prepared very quickly this morning. Kayla called me from the bathroom when she woke up and I just knew what it was about. I went to check on her and she said “I started”. The two words that can be scary for those that are completely unprepared. I went and grabbed her U by Kotex Tween pads and ran through how to put it in her panties. You’d actually be shocked to know that it’s not that self explanatory. My advice; grab a pad with wings {like the ones by U by Kotex Tween} and do a quick demo. She thanked me and then we sat down. I grabbed Kelsie and we had a girly chat.
We spoke about cramps and I made them both aware that you don’t always have cramps that make you double over in pain. Most of the time a couple of pain pills will take care of any cramps your having. We talked about the strange feeling it was to be wearing a pad. Kayla described it as a diaper. Ha. I would have to agree with her. And then the talk transformed into the length of time to now she’s a woman. Kelsie left, completely uninterested and Kayla and I carried the conversation further into what the period actually was. She said her tummy felt funny and I told her why it probably did. I kept asking her if she had any questions, but the answer was no. I think that I covered the bases fairly well, but I wouldn’t have been as prepared had it not been for the list of questions that she may ask from the Kotex site. This site has been more than helpful. I’m very thankful for it. I had her download an app on her Kindle Fire to help keep track of when she starts and stops. I told her that keeping track is so important. It keeps from having messes later because you didn’t know it was getting close to time to start and it would also save her from embarrassment!
It’s all good. Kayla has started her period and we are ready to face the world. Kelsie is prepared when her time comes. I am hoping she’ll be like Kayla and not like me!
“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.”
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