Aunt Flo and kids!

[utahfeminist]

I was just wondering what you ladies say to kids when you get your period.

I've just got my first period since having ds so it has been a long time since I have had to say anything to my daughter.

As most of the time she follows me into the bathroom I need to say something but I don't want to scare her.

She is 4.

Any ideas?

[AbbieB]

Tell her what it is if she asks. "When mommies don't have a baby growing in there belly/uterus they bleed a little once in awhile. It does not hurt." I seem to remember telling DD that although it is red like blood that it was not exactly blood like when you get a cut.

Just build on the sex ed info your child already has. Since you have a new baby there is probably a lot of baby growing in mommy kind of stuff you can link the new info too.

[annettemarie]

Moving to Parenting Issues

[incorrigible]

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[chicagomom]

Wait until she asks a question, then answer it with a relatively short answer. With younger kids I always subscribe to "they'll ask as much as they want to know." As far as freaking them out, you might be surprised. They might not think it's a big deal. I have told 4 yo it's "good blood", doesn't hurt, and is a normal thing that our bodies do one time every month so we can make a nest in our bodies to grow babies. I try not to make a big deal out of it.

Older ds has asked some questions about the "technology" (tampons, etc) and straightforward simple answers usually suffice.

[wendy1221]

My almost 8 yo ds has been very curious about this for quite a long time (since he wa slike 2? ) I just keep giving him more detailed answers the older he gets. I've never lied, I've just given simple answers, etc. We're a pretty open family, I don't even shut the bathroom door half the time. I'll probably get him a book about human bodies etc when he's a little older.

[Calidris]

I explained to my 3 year old that the blood was for if the Mummy had a baby in her belly (she already knows that blood carries food around the body).
Because she is very squeamish and sensitive about even minor cuts, I told her that it was special blood and not the blood from cuts (otherwise she would be very upset about me bleeding for days without it healing).

[nicole lisa]

DS is always in the bathroom with me it seems and I just answer his questions as they come up. He's 6.5 and knows the word menstruation and knows it's something that happens to girls and women once a month and it involves re-usable pads and blood and fertility.

Both BF and I have always been very open and honest with DS about bodies and reproduction. We bought him books and started talking about everything, age appropriately, at about 2.5-3. At 2 he knew babies grow in the uterus and he wasn't at all questioning menstruation when in the bathroom with me and by 4 he knew egg+sperm=fetus and was interested in my stash of cloth pads and by 5 he knew about menstruation and that egg and sperm most often, but not always, meet up during sex and when that doesn't happen menstruation follows. It's an ongoing process and you have to go with what feels right to you.

[Doodadsmom]

I haven't dealt with this (not yet anyway) but a friend of mine told her daughters that God made a sort of a nest in her tummy every month in case there was a baby coming. If there wasn't a baby, then the nest would come out.

[mistymama]

I tell him that I have my period and that means no baby brother or sister this month.

My 4.5 year old has always gone into the bathroom with me, still does sometimes. He sees me put a tampon in and has asked about the blood and if it hurts. I'm honest with him and tell him it's called a period and it happens every month if I'm not pregnant.

[momuveight2B]

We keep it short, simple and sweet. I also have teens in the house and they know all about it. We use cloth pads that are washed daily and hung on the clothesline. One day teen son and teen daughter brought in the laundry and were snickering. I spoke right up and asked if we needed to talk about periods and they reassured me they knew all about it , so just to be sure we had the "talk" That was the last time they made mention of it.

The best place to learn is at home and that it is a natural process that they will be exposed to throughout life.

[jimblejamble]

Wow I wish my mom and sister were so open with me as a kid! I never even HEARD of a period until I was 11!

[miss_sonja]

Well, I have a delightful euphemism: Grown Up Lady Time. We use it to refer to pads and such (as in 'put mama's grown up lady things back!'). Older DD knows some of the 'facts of life', and has had a basic version of the talk. Younger doesn't really care yet, but is fascinated by mama's packaged up pads.

[Jessy1019]

DD was 2.5 last time I had a period (yay nursing, it's been over two years now between pregnancy and breastfeeding, going to knock on wood now). She asked then, and I told her that women who aren't pregnant bleed once a month when the lining in their wombs come out. She wasn't too phased.

The other day, I was going to pick up my birth control pills and we ran late and couldn't get them in time for me to take them that night, and she was saying, "Now you're going to get pregnant and have another baby." So I had to explain that it's not likely since 1. I don't have my period back (and had to explain period again to her) and 2. I wouldn't stay pregnant even if it happened by accident (she knows about abortion too, that one I didn't have to explain).

I explained it pretty much the way I did the first time, though, that you bleed once a month when you're not pregnant, that it's a way for your uterus to clean itself out and rebuild a fresh lining in case you do get pregnant the next time around. She's 4.5 now and doesn't seem bothered by it. No one in our house has any modesty, so I'm sure she'll see it again and we'll talk about it more when I do get my period back (please not for a loooong time).

[lalaland42]

My two year old thought it was poopy on my underwear the other day. I explained that it was blood and that women bleed once a month (I didn't explain about pregnancy) and it didn't hurt. She still thought it was poopy after the explanation.

[pigpokey]

Mine are 2 and 3 and I tell them it's not really blood, it's menstrual flow. I enjoy hearing my two year old ask me "That menstrual flow?" when he sees it. It just cracks me up. (I'm easily amused.) I do tend to use very specific terms with them in an offhand way and they don't usually go into too much curiosity when I handle it that way. I think they're learning so many words all the time that none of the "private" stuff has any particular weight attached to it yet.

[onlyzombiecat]

My dd has always followed me into the bathroom I just explained what the pads I was using were for and what my period is. I told her that she would have a period some day. She decided she wants hers to be purple. I never made it a big deal. There were multiple discussions.
She is 7 now and is matter of fact about it.

[NiteNicole]

If mine follow me into the bathroom I yell, "Hey! PRIVACY!" and point out the door.

Same here. I have prescious little alone time left, I am pretty fierce about guarding it

[UberMama]

My boys have asked (4 y/o's). They thought something was terribly wrong with me at first. I explained as best as I could, in simple terms, that since I wasn't carrying a baby in me, I bled sometimes (they don't quite get what a "month" means, of course). I explained I was okay, and that a pad wasn't a bandaid, as they had assumed..

[kewb]

This was a situation where Saturday Night Live came in handy. The first time my ds asked me about the blood I told him that this was G-ds way of letting you know the plumbing was okay in case you want to have another baby. My dd informed me that since she is never having any babies that G-d does not need to check the plumbing every month. . As they have gotten older I have expanded the knowledge. They both know that the blood lines the uerus in preparation of a baby and when there is no baby the blood comes out. They both love the book It's so Amazing. Your dd is still a little young for it but it is a great book.