Mumsnet Talk

My 2 boys, (age 3 and 13mths), love finding and fiddling with tampax, (unused)!! Given that I'm pregnant I'm amazed how many of the little blighters are littered around the house. My 3yo wants to know what they are. I just said they're called tampax and they're Mummy's but this was not a good enough answer apparantly. So what can I say which doesn't sound frightening?

I've just told DS (3) that they are ladies things and he seems quite content with that answer.

I have no idea what you could tell them but DD4 once made herself some kneepads with sanitary towels (she was 2 at the time)! I still have the incriminating pictures for eventual blackmail

She must have thought that was the correct use for them as she never asked what they actually were![relived emoticon]

DD1 asked when she was 9 so I could go more into explaining about puberty but to a 3 yo I think I would just tell them I will give them the explanation when I have more time and just hope they will forget

Heehee just be careful... when my brother was 3YO he asked my mum that question when she said it was ike a plaster for mummy's bits when they were sore he took it the wrong way...

a few minutes later he ran in naked with tampon shoved up his backside shouting 'I've got a poorly bum is this where it goes' my mum thought it was stuck between his bum cheeks but when she pulled it, it came out with shit on it (sorry TMI) but LMFAO he is now 14YO and still hasn't lived it down...

My 3YO is insanely curious about everything. I have been fobbing him off on this one but wondered if there was something better to say. He also wants to know what girls have if they don't have willys. What word do you use?

ROFL!

DS1 and 2 (4 and 3 yrs) have never asked me what they are since they barged in on me inserting one.

'Here's a thing to stick up yer butt Mum'

Mamadiva .. ouch surely??

I am crying! please stop it!

DS2 just ran down the stairs asking what he has missed!

Strangely enough he never comlained until my mum pulled it out, and yes he had barged in on my mum inserting one so I guess that's how he gt the idea

My 3YO DS loves playing with them too, glad it's not just me because I thought it was rather , luckily he has not asked what they are but I did find him giggling madly one day after he put one in his cup of juice

WRT bits, I have twin sisters who are 8 months older than DS so they are all very nosey about nappy changes etc so we decided that boys have bits and girls have front bums... that one was courtesy of my mum

curleytoes call it what it is a vagina or a vulva. A boy has a penis and a girl has a vagina (although strictly it's a vulva).

I still struggle with this. I am SAHM to a 4yo ds and 3 and 1yo dds. I can't get a moment privacy (bathroom door locks don't work and we can't fit any on) so they often barge in when I am mid insertion or worse mid extraction- eeek!

I usually mumble something about 'just things that Mummy's need/use' blah blah blah

Hmmmm... Think we'll stick to "min" for now.

I asked my mum what Tampax were when I was about 5. In her usual fashion, she told me exactly what/why etc. I didn't believe her - too unlikely! Just thought they were sweets I couldn't have.

spicybingowings - I guess but the 'real' names sound very medical to me whereas 'willy' sounds less stuffy and formal. The female equivilant?

thatsnotmymonster, ladyoftheflowers. Joyfully, (I think), I have been pregnant and BFing soooo much that the barging in thing hasn't been an issue. That'll take the questions to a new level I'm sure.

My 2 and a half year old asked. She understands basic reproduction and I just told her that every time an egg doesn't turn into a baby, it needs to come out and pads/tampons/whatever catch it so we can throw it away.

And the medical names only sound stuffy to you. My dd knows that a man has a penis, a woman vulva and a vagina but she just refers to them both as a 'gina.

Just tell them age-appropriate truth. "Mummy's tummy fills with a little extra blood each month in case a baby might want to grow there. If the baby doesn't grow the extra blood leaks out -- which doesn't hurt -- and I use these to sponge up the blood so it doesnt make a mess."

It is so much easier if you just bite the bullet early and tell them the need-2-know details as soon as they ask.

I remember finding some of my mothers lilettes. She told me they were "for flushing downt the toilet". I don't think I needed any more explaination after that. Seemed logical to my 5/6yr old brain

"What are these?"
"They're cotton wool."
You've told them the truth and they will be satisfied with that answer, for now.

They don't just sound stuffy to you, curlytoes, this is a bit of an old chestnut on MN, with a hardcore of MNetters teaching their toddlers to say vulva and scrotum etc. (I often wonder if they make their kids say epidermis instead of skin, too)

The rest of the world just uses normal slang, bits, balls, willy, bum etc. I've never met a single person in real life who teaches their 18 month old the correct word for clitoris!

why has no one said 'use a mooncup' yet?

someone on here told her kids they were for "Mummy's poorly bum"

still makes me wince thinking about it

You just have to go with the flow of the conversation and judge how much information they can take and not be shocked or scarred. There's nothing wrong with your DCs knowing that you bleed from your vagina every so often (or front bottom or whatever you call it to your DCs, any obviously not now that you're pregnant!) and just reassure them that it's something that happens to most women and it doesn't hurt and is nothing to be worried about.

DD (4.7) knows that every month a woman's body makes a cushion out of blood in case there's a baby. If there isn't a baby then the blood comes out. I use a Tampax to catch the blood.

She and DS (2.8) love to watch me insert Tampax, I try to avoid doing it in front of them, but you can't always. If DD spots a used Tampax before I flush it away, she's been known to shout, "I can see your baby cushion!" - so she hasn't quite understood it all yet!

thanks all, it's really helpful reading these responses. Ginslinger- from some time lurking on MN I did wonder when mooncups would come up.