*Ladies only*What nice things did your Mum do when you started your periods?

Bronnie

ljw2701 wrote: »

When I was about 10 I started writing to a penpal in America and when a letter arrived it was always passed round the whole family - Mum, Dad, sister, brother........ Imagine my horror when at about age 12 she asked if I'd started, said she had and then drew little pictures of pads & tampons to show me what she used . After that we exchanged little notes folded up separately..........!!

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You reminded me of something I'd forgotten about!

My mum was a love, but very prudish. At the start of the 70's I had an American penfriend, for a few years and when we hit puberty, she was obviously "more advanced" than me and living an American teen magazine lifestyle, I couldn't begin to imagine compared to my dull little life! Round the age of 12/13 she was writing of boyfriends and sending me American teen magazines that were more expilcit in their problem pages and advertising than the British counterparts of the time. My parents found some of the letters and magazines and I was discouraged from continuing the correspondence.

Aww! They were loving parents, just old-fashioned and strict about what they believed was appropriate and what was not! How times have changed!

OP sorry to divert from the thread!

Sarah-Jane_2

helena4 wrote: »

what about not having a mum any readers here only had a dad to tell?

I only had Dad as my Mum was useless back then and off living with one of her many ex husbands rarely talking to us:rotfl:

Well I had Dad and a younger tomboy sister - fantastic.

It was early one morning and my Dad was at work so my Grandad was looking after me and my sister (as if having to tell your Dad wouldn't be bad enough!). Because there were no older females in the house, and I started fairly young (i'd just left primary school) I only had one towel i'd been given by a school nurse back in year 5. I was too embarrassed to say anything so I stuffed my knickers with toilet roll and must have been to the toilet to check I hadn't bled to death 700,000 times before my Dad got back from work:o When he was back I wrote a note and stuffed it under my little sisters door to ask her to tell him - big mistake! "Daaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddddddddddddddd, Sarah's started her periodddddddddddd hahahahaha!!!" then "Sarah's a period girl" was chanted by her outside my door for about 20 minutes:rolleyes: I got upset so my Dad came and asked if I needed anything and I said yes, so he went off to Tesco on his own to get "supplies". He came back with a box of pantyliners and that's it. I was too embarrassed to tell him that was no good, so I made do with them and toilet roll for about 4 months. There were no talks, no hugs, just a scared kid barely out of primary school with nobody to talk to about it. I went to bed and cried my eyes out all night. I didn't really understand what was happening because the lessons at school had only covered the basics, and I was too young to remember my mum having periods before she left. Because of my embarrassment over the whole thing it took me months to build up the courage to drop a packet of proper towels in the trolley and to stop my Dad getting the pantyliners instead:o Because my period was quiet heavy though the towels were never enough, so I ended up saving my school lunch money at secondary school for a few months and i'd walk down to the leisure centre on Sunday afternoons to stock up on tampons from the machines:o They only ever had super plus ones - at 11/12 years old.. ouch is all I can say:o This went on for months until I finally managed to drop a packet of tampons in to the trolley too. I think I must have been 14 before I had a period that didn't result in chucking away all my knickers, stuffing my knickers with toilet roll, making makeshift tampons from toilet roll etc:o

When my sister started when she was 14 (in the car on the way to a week on holiday:rotfl: ) I was able to deal with her because I'd been through it. I made sure I got towels and small tampons for her every month, got her black knickers, gave her hugs... everything I wish i'd had but didn't get:o

I still never talk about periods with friends, family, my mum.. I think mainly because of the way it was dealt with when I started.

I wish i'd had a mum or big sister to turn to. I did so many stupid things (like not drinking at all for a couple of days because I thought if I didn't wee as much, I wouldn't bleed as much, so i'd be able to cope with the crappy pantyliners I was given:rolleyes: ) just because I didn't understand and never had it explained to me.

Hey ho. I'm sure there are plenty of other Dads out there who dealt with it excellently:T:T

sharonr

I was really humbled by my Mum when I started. I had tampons from school after a sex ed lesson, but was too nervous to use them. When I started, I told my Mum and she took me on a 30 minute walk to the corner shop, I waited outside whilst she bought me some pads.

This may not sound like much, but my Mum is agoraphobic and used to panic even in the back garden sometimes, so this walk was really significant. She realised that I wouldn't want to go to my Dad (who used to do all the shopping back then) and braved the great outdoors for me. I really appreciated how much effort she made for me that day.

I think I might ring her tomorrow and say "thanks"!

gravitytolls

Bless you SJ. You know, I always think everything happens for a reason, and you managed to cope, so that despite your sister's meanness over your note, you had the emotional capacity to give her what you'd needed. I bet she loves you all the more for that, I think you're lovely.

elsien

I was away at boarding school - not sure I ever got round to telling my mum.

The worst bit was when they separated and I used to stay with dad in the holidays. He was in the forces abroad, and we didn't live near any shops I could go to on my own, so in the naafi I used to chuck the tampax into the shopping basket and we both tried to pretend it wasn't there while my brother's whinged in the background about why I was being bought something and they weren't.

willa123

I remember the day i got my first period clearly. We we staying with my Auntie.& woke up one morning ..urgh a bit of a mess !

Mum just gave me a big hug & a pack of Pads. lol.

Mado

elsien wrote: »

while my brother's whinged in the background about why I was being bought something and they weren't.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
My son saw the posh box (Moxie's) and thought they were chocolates... he whinged while I told him he really didn't want any of it.

wannabe_sybil

My mother slapped my face.

Then she gave me some towels and left me to it.

jennihen

Aawwww - thats awful!
While I'm not comfortable with everything being out in the open I feel for those who where brought up by a generation who couldn't talk about anything or even believed that the 'womanly process' was bad or dirty.

wannabe_sybil

Apparently it's traditional somewhere... Probably something to do with 'unclean'.

I got over it. I don't have a little girl, but I would certainly try and do it different.