First period - how do you handle it with male members of family

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Girls these days are so much less embarrassed about these things. And thank god! Why should anyone be?

My mom asked if she could tell my dad, and he did. He congratulated me and was cutely excited, lol. It seemed like a bigger deal to him than my mom which is funny in hindsight.

Don’t make it a big deal. Say it like you’d say someone is getting their appendix removed. It’s just a normal bodily thing.

Your dad was cutely excited? That’s weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have boys and I can assure you they would not want to hear about this.

Do better. Honestly if you are raising boys who are squeamish about this, you are doing them a disservice.

Boys are squeamish when they are not familiar. Do talk about it with them and help them become familiar. They will most likely live with a woman one day, and at a minimum we make up half the population. Understanding periods goes a long way toward understanding what life is like for women.

Many of us were taught heavy shame surrounding our periods. Raising a generation of men who DO NOT see the shame is a huge gift you could give the world.

I agree. You don't have to make a big deal about periods, but at minimum a boy with sisters should know what they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girls these days are so much less embarrassed about these things. And thank god! Why should anyone be?

My mom asked if she could tell my dad, and he did. He congratulated me and was cutely excited, lol. It seemed like a bigger deal to him than my mom which is funny in hindsight.

Don’t make it a big deal. Say it like you’d say someone is getting their appendix removed. It’s just a normal bodily thing.

Your dad was cutely excited? That’s weird.

+1

Did your mom get cutely excited when your brothers balls dropped?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dad didn't know. He saw blood in the toilet once and thought I was severely ill. If I had a daughter I'd tell her dad. No need to wait for him to discover it in some embarrassing way on his own.

It's not a daughter's obligation for her body to be a biology lesson for her father. A grown man should be able to figure this out on his own. If he's doing embarrassing things when he sees blood in a toilet in a house with women it's because he's an embarrassment of an adult male.

Right. But dads home alone with young daughter and sees blood in the toilet but doesn't know she's started her period... what should he do? If my dad had known I'd been menstruating for a year, maybe he wouldnt have said anything about it. Instead, he had no idea I'd started my period already and questioned me as though I was very ill, which really embarrassed me because then I had to be the one to tell him. The alternative would be to get ahead of the situation and tell your child's FATHER hey, your daughter started her period. So when issues arise, he's aware and prepared.

Uh, flush!
Your dad sounds high strung!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had sort of a "period party" where we celebrated her transition from girl to young woman with a lot of pomp and flair. We thought it was important to recognize the event with a grand celebration.

Do the same for your son's first wet dream?

I don’t expect parents to celebrate their children having orgasms , no. Not the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Im a couple years from this but i have two girls. Its up to them if they want to talk about it publicly. We are a no shame household so they know about periods and supplies etc. and Dh is very supportive and has bought me supplies when needed so i would tell him. He is goofy and would totally do a period party with red velvet cake and all sorts of kitsch. But only if the kids want to.

So embarrassing! Do people do this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Im a couple years from this but i have two girls. Its up to them if they want to talk about it publicly. We are a no shame household so they know about periods and supplies etc. and Dh is very supportive and has bought me supplies when needed so i would tell him. He is goofy and would totally do a period party with red velvet cake and all sorts of kitsch. But only if the kids want to.

So embarrassing! Do people do this?

Only on the internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have boys and I can assure you they would not want to hear about this.

Do better. Honestly if you are raising boys who are squeamish about this, you are doing them a disservice.

Boys are squeamish when they are not familiar. Do talk about it with them and help them become familiar. They will most likely live with a woman one day, and at a minimum we make up half the population. Understanding periods goes a long way toward understanding what life is like for women.

Many of us were taught heavy shame surrounding our periods. Raising a generation of men who DO NOT see the shame is a huge gift you could give the world.

I agree. You don't have to make a big deal about periods, but at minimum a boy with sisters should know what they are.

So boys with no sisters are SOL? No way to learn about this anywhere else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had sort of a "period party" where we celebrated her transition from girl to young woman with a lot of pomp and flair. We thought it was important to recognize the event with a grand celebration.

Do the same for your son's first wet dream?

I don’t expect parents to celebrate their children having orgasms , no. Not the same.

But it signifies puberty and sexual maturation. Why is that not to be celebrated like a period?

[Anonymous]

My friend and her family had a special celebration when she got her first period. She got her favorite meal and they gave her a name necklace (very popular at that time). I actually thought it was really nice as it was a nonevent in our house

[Anonymous]

This would be a matter of fact, daughter has started menstruating to her dad because I do not nor should I fill out all school, camp, doctors’ forms, etc., and they all ask in a check box about menstruation. I presume like for me, it’s so the doctor can then ask about her last cycle, any issues, etc. While they don’t ask me or dad about that on her behalf and she’s old enough we are no longer in the room for this discussion, it does happen.

FWIW, our daughter is nearly 14 and hasn’t had it yet, but the last time we went to her regular appointment at the doctor, the doctor definitely asked again after I left the room, thinking maybe she was hiding it from me or something, because she came out really confused as to why the dr asked more questions when she knew I checked the no box on her forms.

[Anonymous]

I never talked about it with my husband. I’m sure he realized that at some point it would happen and that I’d deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Girls these days are so much less embarrassed about these things. And thank god! Why should anyone be?

My mom asked if she could tell my dad, and he did. He congratulated me and was cutely excited, lol. It seemed like a bigger deal to him than my mom which is funny in hindsight.

Don’t make it a big deal. Say it like you’d say someone is getting their appendix removed. It’s just a normal bodily thing.

Your dad was cutely excited? That’s weird.

+1

Did your mom get cutely excited when your brothers balls dropped?

+1

[Anonymous]

Such weirdos who want to make getting-her-period a thing. Honestly, could you be any more low class?

[Anonymous]

DH needs to be informed so he can be prepared/ buy products if sent to the store, etc.

Siblings don’t need to know.