I wanted to get my period so bad. Like all girls, I wondered when it would make it’s appearance. I was crazy enough to get into my moms stash of tampons (super plus ones ouch!) and practicing putting them in before my period ever began. I read the American Girl book, The Care and Keeping of YOU, over about a hundred times. I was so ready.

It was January 1, 2002 and I was turning 13 in a month. I was home alone, not at school because it was winter break. I was in my room organizing stuff when I felt an unusual wetness. I reached my hand down my pants to investigate. My fingers came back reddish brown color. My heart raced. I was so excited my period had come and greatly relieved it happened while I was home. I ran to the bathroom to wipe to make sure what I saw on my fingers really was what I thought it was. READ MORE… »

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My first period was never anything special. I was just an 11 year old girl and it was just a spot of blood on my panties about the size of a quarter. no biggie but my mom wasn’t the kind of person to talk to me about something like that.

She just tells me that its my period hands me a pad and that was it. later on down the road I started hearing about how some moms would take their daughters out to eat or take them out for a pedicure to celebrate their period but I could’t see why to celebrate.

In my family I was the only girl in the house besides mom and talking about a subject like that was a topic we didn’t speak openly about. I kind of wish we did as  I had no one to really talk to about something like that. I just tell her when I need supplies and she gets them on the shopping trips. READ MORE… »

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I was well prepared for my first period. I don’t mean in school, although I was a good student as well. I mean that first time you menstruate. I had had sex education in fifth grade; I knew the parts and what they were supposed to do. I just had to wait until it happened. As luck would have it, I was wearing white shorts when it started. I wasn’t worried though, I was excited. I was a woman. I had supplies with me so there was just a rush to get them in place.

When I got home that day I called my mom to tell her the momentous news. Was she as excited as I was? I couldn’t really tell. READ MORE… »

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I was raised by my grandma, and I adore her, but when it comes to periods she’s definitely “old fashion”. I guess you could say she warned me about my period in her own subtle way, but I got far more information from friends at school than I did from her. And to tell you the truth, I really didn’t want to hear “that information” coming from my grandmother, it mortified me! I was always (and still am) totally embarrassed to talk to her about anything period related, and I attribute these feelings to the way she always made anything related to the subject seem so taboo.

When I finally did start my period on Easter Sunday when I was eleven years old I didn’t tell her. I used toilet paper to absorb my blood until I had a chance to sneak off to the store and buy a box of pads with my own money. I did everything I could to hide my period from her. Believe it or not, I still to this day have not told her I started my period, although four children later I’m sure she’s figured it out! READ MORE… »

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I don’t have kids but remember the 1st day of my period like it was yesterday. I was 11 and it was the first day of school…first day of 6th grade…1st day of moving from grade school to middle school. I started on the bus ride home that afternoon after school. I was a latch key kid and my mom worked full-time. I went to the bathroom…saw the “evidence” …and promptly freaked out and called my mom at work. Her boss let her come home early. She came into the house and hugged me and said thru tears “you’re a woman now!” LOL I will never forget her trying to show me how to use one of her tampons and finally giving up and going to the store down the street for some pads.

By Angela Lilly

 

Click Here, to share your first period story with us!

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Join us and Women’s Health Coach, Nicole Jardim of The Healthy Elements, for this exclusive Earth Day celebration!

60-min-to-a-green-period
What is Earth Day? Earth Day is an annual day on which events (like this one) are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

Why should you be concerned with environmental protection? To name a few there is: our children’s future, increased waste/pollution, and global warming. But one of the best reasons is the direct effect on our health. Our bodies come into contact with chemicals and toxins daily, but do you know how they are affecting:

  • OUR lives?
  • OUR environment?
  • OUR periods?

Well, that’s exactly what will be covered in this free 60 Minutes to a “Green” Period Webinar on April 22nd.

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I struggle to be on friendly terms with what is commonly referred to as maxi pads. Although it’s been many years since I’ve used one, I remember why I began disliking pads—they felt like diapers for adults, only instead of urine & fecal matter, I was sitting in menstrual fluids.

My issue with pads began while I was in high school. I was in the middle of class, had just changed my pad, yet I felt warm liquid working its way up my crack. I knew if I didn’t catch it, I would leak, so I excused myself to the bathroom for maintenance. Sure enough, my pad wasn’t catching the menstrual fluids. I thought if I’d used 2 super, extra long maxis with wings that my problem would be solved, but that didn’t help either. The menstrual fluid would just travel up, missing the pad altogether. Also, the size of the pads made me feel like I was sitting on a pillow, or wearing a diaper. I’d had it with pads, so I decided to try tampons. I was in love! Leakage was rare, I didn’t feel like I was wearing a diaper, and I wasn’t sitting in my own fluid. Also, I could SWIM—which I loved to do—so I was sold. I have been using tampons for years ever since. READ MORE… »

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Dads with developing daughters

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that your daughter is growing up. And for many fathers – watching their daughters hit puberty and go through so many changes so quickly is undeniably difficult. After all, this is Daddy’s little girl we are talking about.

Even so, it is important to know that in this day and age, 3 out of 10 girls are starting puberty at the young age of 8 years old. So what a daddy might see as his daughter pulling away from hugs and becoming increasingly self-conscious is really just a symptom of all the many changes that naturally come with puberty.

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Believe it or not, as a father – you play a huge role in how comfortable your daughter is with her own femininity.  Girls who have a loving, supportive, compassionate, and understanding father have been proven in numerous studies to have more self-confidence and perform better in school (and life!)

It’s easy as a father to sit back and allow mom, or another female role model to handle the particulars of periods – considering those things ‘woman’s stuff!”  The problem is that if a girl in the midst of puberty sees her father avoiding the subject or throwing his hands over his ears every time someone mentions the word ‘period,’ the girl can often feel like her father is not accepting her transition to adulthood.  And this can be a problem.

Remember that this transitionary time in your daughter’s life is confusing for HER too – and the last thing she needs is to feel unaccepted by those around her.

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Our First Period stories are seldom told.

We share highlights from our childhood with our own children as they grow up, from the mischievous to the beautiful, from the mundane to the unparalleled. Moms may share their First Kiss story with their Teen girl, but a first menstrual story? Rarely…

my first periodHaving worked with woman and girls all over the world, I found that sharing these silent stories creates deep bonding, and has a rich healing effect on those who share, as well as on those who listen.

I encourage women to break the taboo, to give voice to their untold First Menstruation story, as the first step to releasing the negative residues they may be carrying form that time in their life, as well as the first step in becoming comfortable in welcoming their daughter into womanhood.

In the spirit of modeling, I would like to share my First period story with you.

I was about 12, and owned a book called “A Baby Comes into the World,” which was given to me by my Mom a few years earlier. Even though we looked at the detailed drawings of Female and Male anatomy, and she read the book to me more than once, when the day arrived — none of that, apparently, sank in. READ MORE… »

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