Doper females- As youngsters, were you eager to get your period/develop boobies, etc?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I was another early bloomer; was wearing a 36C by fifth grade & had gotten my first period about a month after my tenth birthday. Like some other posters, the puberty thing hit me big from out of nowhere. Although I’d already gotten the whole “girl, you’ll be a woman soon” talk at school by that time, I didn’t have time to decide whether or not I was into the idea of developing breasts & getting the monthly visitor. Never discussed the idea of “developing” with my then-friends.

I never felt self-conscious about having large breasts; I think people have always stared at me more because of my wheelchair than my breasts, although my…attributes were definitely noticed (and commented on) on a few occasions by older guys who thought I was 18, not 12 or 13. Imagine their chagrin. :wink:

22

I dreaded getting my period. I hated the fact that I was growing breasts. For some reason, all the girls I knew felt this way. I specifically remember one girl saying “those aren’t breasts. It’s just fat.” I avoided the bra thing for as long as I could, too.

I thought Margaret was some kind of psycho.

23

Just a tiny question.

How the hell did you people know you were the only ones in your grade to get your period? Did the teacher make you all stand up and announce when the blood was flowing? Because I honestly did not know or care what the other girls were going through.

I belonged to the class of girls who was in denial up to the end. My mother would try to sneak in those “period” talks but I would secretly believe she wasn’t talking to me. I think I associated periods with being “fast” and “girly girl”. As long as I stayed a tomboy, I wasn’t going to get one.

So I was violently angry when I started. And I’m still angry. I probably won’t be “over it” until I go reach menopause.

As for bras, I started wearing one in the sixth grade. Believe it or not, they haven’t grown that much since then. Now I don’t wear one. They’re hot and uncomfortable, and in my case, I don’t think I need one.

24

I knew about periods and stuff, but I never really thought about it happening to me until it DID. . . and it reduced my tomboyish self to a puddle of tears on my mother’s bathroom floor. She tried to make me feel better by saying, “But Jessica! You’re growing up! You’re turning into a woman!” It didn’t help, I didn’t want it. I still cannot understand why she was so excited that day.

25

I have no idea if I was the lfirst or last person in my grade- I mean, I was pretty sure I wasn’t the first, but I don’t think I was terribly late or early. I got mine when I was 13, in 8th grade, and it just never crossed my mind to compare with other people. I usually tend to be more competitive over the things I can control and be responsible for.

I get that it’s sort of a sign you’re growing up, but I was just as childish and irresponsible before as I was afterwards. So I don’t really get why it was always so romanticized. Those books never explained that…

I occasionally wore one in 8th grade, but they were itchy and horrible, so I usually ended up taking them off half way through the day. Then I figured- why go through the hassle, and haven’t worn one in the last five years.

Anyone see that episode of “South Park” when Cartman thinks he’s getting his, and then Stan lies and says he’s getting his…and Kyle gets really jealous, a la Margaret, and Kenny dies via tampon up his arse? I don’t know, I just thought that was a funny take on it. Really expresses my irreverent attitude towards the whole thing.

26

Well, as there were no studies done of my elementary school class, I don’t know that I was the first to get my period. But, I do know I was the first (or at least the first that they noticed) to wear a bra because I was teased mercilessly for it–by the girls. Believe me, I didn’t give a rat’s ass what was going on with the other girls’ hormones–except that I was singled out by them for being, in their eyes, different.

It isn’t hard to tell if a girl is wearing a bra. Especially if they’re wearing white shirts–and I know I never saw another girl in a bra. It is quite possible someone else wore a bra, though, before me, and just hid it considerably better. (Funny thing is, over the course of the summer, all the girls must have run out and bought one, because for 6th grade practically everyone had one. Of course, 6th grade where I lived was junior high, so that’s probably part of it.)

It wasn’t too hard to tell I needed a bra, either. I was a full B-cup at age 10 or 11–none of this training bra stuff for me–when I was first fitted. I’d been wearing sheer white cotton oxford shirts, and well, let’s just say I didn’t look like a little girl in them. It was my mother’s insistence that I get them–and wear them. Boo!

As far as my period goes, I have no idea if I was “the” first, but I’m pretty certain I was in the first tier. I remember not long before starting this one sweet girl having the integrity to fight ignorance at 11 to ask me if I’d started. I said no, I hadn’t, and she then told me girls were spreading all these rumors that I’d started and was telling everyone, bragging, showing off, etc. Umm…? There wasn’t even a grain of truth in that. (Although I did start like 2 weeks later.) The only thing I figure is that the cattier girls had noticed my more womanly shape and just went from there.

Then there was all that junior high stuff–all the girls talking about their periods, can’t wait to get theirs, Claudine just came running out of the bathroom giddy 'cause she started!, yadda yadda–and I’m just sitting there thinking, Huh. Why do they want it? Shoot, they can have mine!

27

when i was in 5th grade, i wanted boobs more than anything. i used to stand in front of the mirror topless and picture big, voluptuous, womanly breasts there. i should have been enjoying the flatness of my youth, when i could still do things like jump rope and slip n slide.

as for my period, i was embarassed about the whole thing when i started in 8th grade. my best friend, though, who’s very very thin, didn’t start until 10th grade and she LONGED for hers. no matter what we told her about what a nuisance it is, she would still get depressed about not having started yet.

28

I thought it was totally unfair that my mom suddenly wouldn’t let me run around bareback in the hot summer like my brothers. My three older sisters made sure I heard plently of horror stories about periods so I wasn’t looking forward to that event. I didn’t appreciate being a girl until I was in the 8th grade. Now I am very happy with my sex. I’ve been blessed with short, PMS-free periods and don’t mind wearing bras (except those underwire torture devices).

29

Being a guy, I’m kind of in uncharted waters here, but I remember something from when my sister was really little, so I think she was in a hurry to “mature,” at one point at least.

In our house the attic door had some fiber insulation or some steel wool or something that should not come in contact with skin. My sister (was maybe three?) decided that it looked like pubic hair (I guess) and stuck some of it in the front of her underwear. My mom only found out because she found a pair of my sister’s underwear on the floor with the insulation still in the crotch.

Never had the urge myself, but I can imagine it wasn’t too comfortable. Who knows, maybe after that she decided she didn’t need to rush growing up.

30

Being a guy, I’m kind of in uncharted waters here, but I remember something from when my sister was really little, so I think she was in a hurry to “mature,” at one point at least.

In our house the attic door had some fiber insulation or some steel wool or something that should not come in contact with skin. My sister (was maybe three?) decided that it looked like pubic hair (I guess) and stuck some of it in the front of her underwear. :eek: My mom only found out because she found a pair of my sister’s underwear on the floor with the insulation still in the crotch.

Never had the urge myself, but I can imagine it wasn’t too comfortable. Who knows, maybe after that she decided she didn’t need to rush growing up.

31

Gak! No, I wasn’t waiting impateintly to get my period!
I knew once i got it, i could become pregnant, and I didn’t want that.
Not that that could’ve happened to me at that age, though 2 of my aquaintances got pregnant at 13 and 14, after a few years of having sex.
But I disgress.
I wanted boobs, but didn’t get too much in that department, beut they came in slowly.

32

I wasn’t anxious at first. I got the “talk” when I was nine or ten, and figured, ok, when I’m 12 or so I’ll have to deal with it. But I didn’t. Eventually, by the time I was starting my freshman year of high school I was getting very embarassed and worried. I never said a word about it to anyone (but my mom) and let my classmates and friends assume whatever they wanted. It wasn’t until a couple of months before I turned 15 that it acually started. And finally I grew taller than 4’8" :slight_smile:

I did worry quite a bit then, but now, in retrospect, I know that at least one of the theories of why girls are hitting puberty younger is due to weight, and I didn’t hit that 100lbs they talk so much about until a few months before mine started. Maybe if I’d eaten more sweets…lol.

33

I think I finally reached 100 lbs in grade nine, which is also when I [cutesy voice] “became a woman”[/cutesy voice]

I didn’t really start developing (except for height) until I was fourteen, and I think I stopped- oh, when I turned 22.

If they ever invent a safe way to get around menstruating, I want it. I didn’t want it the first time it happened, and I’m muchly tired of cramps and nausea. Ten years is enough. Take it back, God.

34

I was sooo eager to get my period, especially when I started junior high (1967).

One by one my friends started, and I felt so left out. I even considered lying about it! It was as if they had their own special club and I was not part of it. They got to exchange knowing and commiserating looks with each other, and take Midol because their “friend” was visiting or more bluntly because they were “on the rag”.

I watched enviously as they showed the P.E teacher their “sanitary belt” (this was in the days before the self-adhesive pad) providing them with an excuse to not have to strip naked and take a shower!

I checked my panties daily hoping to see a “hint of color.”

Sometimes I “practiced” and wore a belt and pad just to try it out. And I kept an emergency supply in my school locker, just in case.

When I finally did start I was so excited! I ran home after school and spent the rest of the day in the bathroom.

Menstruation has never been a problem for me. I am one of the lucky ones who rarely has cramps or any other menstrual issues (no PMS, no zits, etc.).

I am 48 now and on the other end of the spectrum. I watch my friends reaching menopause, sharing knowing looks and commiserating with each other. This is not a club I am eager to join, though it is not something I dread (other than the fact that it means I am getting OLD!).

All-in-all, I enjoy being a girl!

35

One of my fourth grade students developed quite a bit over the year when I was a teacher. It’s hard to notice when you see them almost every day, but it all came to a head when she freaked out and I had to sort out why she was in the nurse’s room with the very nice special ed teacher, getting a big explanation.

Her mother had told her NOTHING. I know this was a pretty uneducated immigrant neighborhood, but you don’t exactly have to write an algebraic statement to explain this to your daughter. Eeeesh.

36

“All you guys”?

Shouldn’t that be “all you gals”?

37

Oh, well…you know what I mean. Guys in the plural second person can be applied to anything…be it males, females, or hermaphroditic wildabeast.

A hundred pounds is necessary for your period? …I’m still shy of 100 and I’ve gotten mine. In fact, I probably weighted a little less back then…

38

The damned tits popped up when I was seven. Actually, it was only one, at first, which was weird. I heard my mother talking to a friend on the phone, saying, “I didn’t wear a bra until I was nineteen, and then when this child turns seven, she sprouts a boob!”

The period thing happened when I was 11. I knew what it was, but I didn’t like it. I mean, bleeding?!? From THERE?!? Eeek!

I wasn’t eager for these things to happen, but I wasn’t dreading it, either. I just hadn’t paid attention until they started happening.

39

http://www.ic.ucsc.edu/~bio80a/Lectures/menstrualcycle.html
If you go down to V it seems to indicate that it’s 100lbs or 16-20% body fat are necessary. Most things I’ve seen (which are far less formal than this site) leave off the body fat ratio concept.

40

Like some of the others posting, I had everything, boobwise, I was gonna have in the 5th grade (B-C cup), and I got my first period at 9. I knew all about it, was neither concerned nor excited and, in fact, didn’t even tell my mom. I guess I was a bit odd that way. Just got some pads, and went to have a sleepover at a friend’s house.

Oh, BTW, I was a short and average-weighted 9 year old. I’m still only 5’2".