Getting your first period is a major moment in any woman's life, and many of us are not as prepared as we could be.
I can still distinctly remember the day I got mine, but I was lucky. I was 12 and had already been prepared for it by my mom, who didn't have any problem being so open and honest about things like puberty and sex-ed.
But even for parents who don't mind having those kinds of conversations and plan to teach their daughters all about the changes their body will go through, that talk may come too late.
According to US News, kids are hitting puberty earlier than ever — and one teacher is sharing the story of her student's traumatic first menstruation experience to shed light on the importance of having these talks with kids sooner.
Scroll through to read the important message this teacher had to share!
Thumbnail Photo: Imgur/carlinha1289 // Flickr / Rusty Clark
[H/T: Scary Mommy]
In an October 3, 2017 post titled "Please teach your kids about menstruations and get them prepared," Reddit user carlinha1289 shared the story of what happened to her earlier that day.
She explains the circumstances around a difficult and intimate conversation that she was found herself obligated to have with one of her elementary school students.
The little girl got her period, and had not been prepared for the possibility at home. Her teacher helped her through the alarming discovery, but wishes that the girl's parents had talked to her sooner.
She writes:
It’s not even 8:30 and I was supervising 3-4th graders before classes start and this 4th grader girl went to the bathroom to basically not come back.
When I went to check on her she said she couldn’t come out and something was wrong, that she had pooped her pants but in the front.
She had her period.
She had no idea what it was and nothing of the sort.
I had to give her a super long maxi pad because I had nothing else.
I had to call her parents to send her home because she was completely confused and sad.
You cannot control when you get your period, but you can sure prepare your daughters for it. Please do so.
There is nothing weird about talking about it with girls and boys.
It's just not my job as a teacher to go through that with children in such a personal and private discussion.
The Reddit post with carlinha1289's warning quickly went viral, with over 19,000 upvotes and over 2,000 comments.
Many of the other women commenting recalled similar traumatic (and unprepared) first period experiences.
One commenter said:
Ugh. I feel for that girl. I literally got my period the class hour before we had sex education in 6th grade. Freaked out as I thought I was dying and bleeding out from an internal wound.
My mom picked me and my siblings up and met my dad at a restaurant to celebrate me being a woman now, but all I wanted to do was cry. They never prepared me and it was mildly traumatic.
Another commenter remembered how cruel the other kids were to her when she got her first period at school:
My first period started in 4th grade and I remember being absolutely destroyed by the other kids in school. Kids knew about periods, but thought everyone got theirs in high school.
I was covered in blood and was humiliated because the boys assumed I was peeing blood and the girls thought that meant I was having sex. In 4th grade. I was so embarrassed.
Teach your kids that everyone is different and periods start at different times. Being early or late isn’t weird.
On the bright side, the teacher's important message reached quite a few parents loud and clear.
One mom commented that she'd been moved to schedule "The Talk" with her own young daughter, despite the fact that she's only 9.
Don't forget to SHARE this story and its important reminder on Facebook!
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
