The Importance Of Talking About Periods To Our Daughters At A Young Age

People who may have read my blog will know that we are parents of seven year old twin girls. As they start to approach their eighth birthday, their curiosity levels about everything has gone into overdrive. Of course this a good thing. After all it’s how they develop and grow and start to mature.

The biggest conversation that is happening in our home at the moment is about periods. I think it’s brilliant that they are curious about how the female body works and they are asking questions about what exactly is a period, what happens when they get their period, what age they will be when they have their first period and many more questions.

I will be honest and say that most of the questions are directed towards their mum, my wife. I guess that is the most natural thing for them to do, but it is not being asked in secrecy or quietly because I am listening very easily to the conversations even when I am in the next room.

In my opinion, we can’t start early enough to talk to our daughters about periods. You may wonder why? Well, I will explain.

Growing up I’m pretty sure periods were never mentioned in our home. The first time I had any idea about periods or took any notice was when I had my first serious girlfriend. Thank goodness times have changed because if I was not hearing this conversation between my sister and mother the chances are it never took place.

This all leads me to believe that back in the day many young girls experiences of their first period was scary and frightening. This is why it’s a conversation that should be happening between daughters and parents. I say parents because yes, us dads need to be open and talk to our daughters about periods too. It should not be all left to mums.

The earlier we start discussing periods with our daughters the earlier we remove the taboos surrounding the subject. It’s not a dirty conversation that should never be mentioned. It’s the most natural conservation in the world, and we need our daughters to be fully informed and not frightened or scared to talk about it.

When the time comes that your daughter has her first period you do not want her thinking OMG! What’s happening to me? You want them to feel comfortable and informed that it is a perfectly natural part of a woman’s life and also if they need to talk about to us, their parents, they won’t be scared to broach the subject.

So as I said in our home at the moment it has been talked about a lot at the moment and it’s refreshing to hear that we are preparing our seven year old twin girls for something that could happen in the next maybe three or five years.

Even today in the 21st century some subjects are brushed under the carpet and are considered taboo subjects. The more open we are with our kids at an early age the more informed they are, and the more likely they will be able to be mature enough to deal with life in general. It is when they are deprived of knowledge that we will have problems with our kids.

Let’s not let our children grow up uninformed and naive because as parents we haven’t found the time and been able to overcome maybe their own embarrassment to talk about subjects such as periods. Have that conservation and start it early. Prepare our kids for life the right way.

What do you think? Should we be talking about periods at a young age to our daughters and sons? I would love to hear in the comments below.