Nope, you’re not. My first, at age 11, was very light and very short, so I didn’t bother telling my mother. It started in earnest a month or two later, at which time I mentioned that I’d had some blood the previous month, too.
She’s got a good attitude. It’s not shameful or abnormal or anything like that, and anyone who thinks it is seriously needs to grow up.
I’m still doing some of those things at age 30, after almost 20 years of periods.
Nope, not at all. My mum practically had to drag it out of me, and I still (six years later) don’t like discussing the subject with anyone. Especially my mum, because we just don’t talk about things and I do not want to know about her menstrual cycle. I still remember the one time (before I started my periods, I think, and definitely after I knew about the subject) when she tried to show me one of her used pads. Ugh. I was Not Happy when the moment came that I knew that this would happen every month for the next few decades.
I still do it.
I was packing for summer camp one summer when I was twelve. My mom asked me if I needed to use pads yet. I said yes (I’d started about six months before). That was the last time we spoke of it until once last year, when she called me and asked how I was doing, and it happened to be that one day of the month in which I was miserably curled up around a heating pad in bed, in absolute agony. I told her such, she got all mother-y, which freaked me out.
Awesome!
I’m not saying it’s something to be ashamed of, just that some teenagers are more private that others. That’s all. Now of course, I’m just like, “oh hey, yeah, it’s my period.” But when I was thirteen, I was VERY self-conscious about anything like that.
monstro, I felt like that too. At first, I was excited, but then I felt like ugh, this sucks, I just want to be a kid again, and not have to worry.
You know, I’m not quite sure why I hesistated to tell my mum. I mean, part of it was that we weren’t really that close, and I guess part of it was when you first get your period you feel like there’s a giant sign on your forehead proclaiming it and that everyone in the world must know you have it. So maybe I just figured she knew, or maybe I was embarassed, or maybe I’d just learned about the whole thing in school, had my own pocket money to buy pads, and didn’t even think to mention it because, hey, it’s my body and I know how to take care of it, so why shouldn’t I?
I don’t wish to be insensitive, but is it common that girls in your part of the world first learn about menstruation when it suddenly happens to them? (if that is indeed the case here, as my earnest reading of the OP seems to indicate)…
No, that would definitely be abnormal. I think you’re misreading it a little. But having abstract knowledge of the workings of one’s internals and being able to apply that knowledge are not always exactly the same.
I think I understand, so it was more a case of ‘OMG, it’s actually happening to me!’ than ‘What the hell is this?’.
I freakin’ hated the very thought of it. My mother had horrendous cramps throughout most of her child-bearing years, so I was kind of “pre-traumatized” before it even happened to me. There were days Mom would just go to bed with the heating pad for several hours, and you did NOT disturb her. (Sadly, I was right to be afraid; I’ve had plenty of those horrendous days myself, although they have tapered off since I hit my mid-twenties.)
So naturally when I first noticed blood on my underwear–I think I was twelve–I freaked. I put off telling anybody for a month or two. Finally I had to tell her.
Two days later, my dad said, in a very joking, light-hearted manner, “So…I hear you’re a woman now!”
I wanted to DIE. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. I was furious at my mother, and furious at my father, too; I kind of figured she’d tell him, but I figured the least she could do was make sure he didn’t say anything about it to me. Some girls take it with a grain of salt, but I didn’t; I hated everything about it, including the strange new hormones that made me cry for no reason, and especially the Ick Factor of dealing with it for six days straight.
I don’t think IvyLass is doing anything remotely wrong by posting about it here, though; every girl gets over that initial oh-my-god-it’s-so-embarrassing-somebody-hide-me thing eventually, so as long as everybody respects a girl’s privacy at the moment, she’ll laugh about it down the road, like we all do. I’ve been menstruating for fifteen years now; to me it’s like being ashamed of a headache, or having to pee.
I don’t have any kids, but I can imagine what a bittersweet moment it was for you, Ivylass. It may not make her an “instant woman” or anything, but it’s definitely the bend in the road that will take her there.
The only advice I have is to introduce her to tampons ASAP, if you haven’t already. My mother gave me pads, so I didn’t try tampons til I was sixteen or seventeen, and I swear they changed my world. 
The way I read it, what I think happened is that the girl knew about menstruation, but was freaked out at the “omg, all that blood!” sudden appearance.
The week before eighth grade I got mine.
I was happy because I finally had it. But somehow though I knew it involved blood, I didn’t quite understand how messy it can be. I was throughly irritated about that.
Not all of us like tampons much, btw. I only use them at night on the one heavy day I get. (Yay for the pill!) My periods are generally light enough that pads are a lot easier to manage.
Who said anything about being ashamed?
When I got my period, I was a very modest person–still am, really. I was very anxious over the unknown changes that were occurring. I knew about them intellectually, but experiencing them was a different matter. I didn’t WANT to be a woman–I liked being a girl, thankyouverymuch. I didn’t want to grow breasts and get acne and have to worry about boys and how to dress and act. I had 3 odler sisters; I had witnessed the crying over boys, the cramps, the “you’re not leaving this house dressed like that” fights with my mother. All I could think of at 12 is “who needs this?”. I wanted to ride bikes and be a tomboy still. I still do.
My daughter came to me and told me–but insisted I not tell her Dad. So, I waited a month and then told her Dad and told him not to let on that he knew. And that is where we stand today. She knows that he knows (he has even picked up tampons at the store for her) but it isn’t something they discuss. Why would they?
I started when I was 13, while I was at summer camp. I knew what was going on (thanks, Judy Blume!) but was totally unprepared for the reality of it. Fortunately my counselor was a sweet, awesome woman in her early twenties who helped me get some pads and tampons and made sure I knew that cold water rinses the blood out, but hot water sets the stain. She also let me know that the sudden, uncontrollable crying was normal and that I shouldn’t try to look for a reason to be depressed to match the mood. Donna, wherever you are, you were the best!
My daughter is due on the 17th of January. In light of this event I have decided that she is forbidden from having a period until the age of 25 at which point she may begin if already in a loving marriage. :dubious:
“My stepmonster told me nothing when I was 13. I said, ‘Hi, um, I think I’ve been injured in a very special way.’ She’s all crying, ‘Oh, you’re a woman!’ I said, ‘Fine, but let’s address this issue first…’” - Georgia Ragsdale