Schools providing Sanitary protection

Red-Squirrel_2

Comms69 wrote: »

Apologies I mean what else do we do?

To punish the parents? Nothing, its counter productive.

You help the girls, and you educate and support the girls and the boys and then their daughters won't be in the same position.

annandale

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/sep/18/celtic-football-periods-on-the-ball

Campaign to get free sanitary products in football grounds. Some stats in the body of this text that show that 49 per cent of girls surveyed had missed school because of issues to do with not being able to afford products.

badmemory

If I am anything to go by period poverty is not necessarily actual poverty. My mother couldn't understand why I needed more than a pack of 12 (we hadn't gone decimal then) every 2 months like she did. So I had to manage. The really interesting part was when we went to the opticians because of my headaches & she had to spend on glasses which would have paid for a couple of years worth of sanitary protection.



2 years later go to another opticians to check the prescription because I still have headaches. Optician says why does this child have glasses, there is nothing wrong with her eyes at all - she is anaemic probably caused by heavy periods (yes he did actually say that). I didn't wear glasses for another 40 years.


So I will repeat myself - no young woman should have the availability of sanitary protection reduced through absolutely no fault of her own.


We should also not allow a girls period to allow "people" to control her. Whoever those people may be. Part of that control is a young girl (not even a woman) not being able to attend school. That control is not necessarily financially based.

Comms69

happyandcontented wrote: »

We can make them free or freely available for pupils who are eligible for 'pupil premium' at the very least. That is those who are deemed by the state to need additional financial support. Yes, it may be abused, yes, they may have !!!!less parents, but, if that judgment has been made by the relevant authorities then I don't think we should judge and possibly penalise innocent young girls.

That seems like a reasonable suggestion. Out of curiosity what percentage would this affect?

phryne

onlyroz wrote: »

I asked our family planning nurse about this, because I have a 9-year-old daughter, and she said that it's perfectly fine to put somebody who has just started their periods onto the pill. She also said that the doctors often recommend running the packs together if they are put onto the combined pill.

I wouldn't have thought a 9 year old girl should be taking the Pill. The longer you take it the higher the risk of breast cancer, for a start. Obviously these things need to be weighed up in terms of the pros and cons, though, if a woman is having such problematic periods that it's affecting her life.

Comms69

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

To punish the parents? Nothing, its counter productive.

You help the girls, and you educate and support the girls and the boys and then their daughters won't be in the same position.

I think that would be great if it happened. My concern is that schools are already stretched and young people leave education with no understanding of basic finance, employment law, tenancies or to be frank any real life skills. Isnt this just putting more pressure on a system that isn't coping?

annandale

Well said bad memory

bellabella

In all this discussion re useable washable sanitry towels do not seem to have been mentioned better for the environment and after an initial payment or given free then no more issues

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Cyclamen wrote: »

When I was a teacher I kept a range of supplies in a bag in my lab. I used them when teaching menstruation in yr7 but also made it clear the kids could ask for a 'dip in the bag' anytime they needed although please try to have your own. I'd tell them to help themselves from a box in the cupboard and go sort something in a drawer elsewhere. I had all ages from yr7 to upper sixth.. the frequent 'pst miss can i dip in the bag' girls would be given a few packs no questions asked. Other teachers did the same, the school office and nurse also.



We also as staff gave shower gels, roll-ons and toothbrushes out when we suspected they were needed. It was usually handled sensitively and quietly by a member of staff the student seemed most comfy with.. as the science teacher and a female it was often delegated to me.

Sounds like you were a great teacher.

phryne

bellabella wrote: »

In all this discussion re useable washable sanitry towels do not seem to have been mentioned better for the environment and after an initial payment or given free then no more issues

I'm not sure how practical that would be in a school environment, but it's certainly worth considering.