To think girls should be taught more about their own body and menstruation?

[PencilCaseBlue]

Schools teach a lot about sex, a lot about the biology of periods (in science), a lot about puberty (in primary school). But they seem to leave out periods in their curriculum (in PSHE etc)

Periods are a huge part of a teenage girl?s life; they can dictate whether you go out, whether you go swimming or whether you spend the entire week in bed with chocolate and a hot water bottle. But every so often I learn something new about my body, sometimes it is something I wish I knew earlier, such as a form of pain relief, or something that if I knew earlier, much hassle would have been saved.

Girls are taught the myths and facts of periods, but not anything else. Yes, you can swim whilst ?on?, yes, you can get pregnant....Yes, and you are going to get cramps. (Why is it that no one ever says that cramps hurt like hell? In any literature about this they are uncomfortable?)

Why can?t girls be taught the truth? You can sweat buckets, changing your diet slightly can help; you get diarrhoea/constipation/flatulence, headaches, aching muscles. Don?t be a martyr, take pain relief, hot baths may be good but may make you feel faint (if you have them at near boiling point
). Sometimes, standing on one leg whilst leaning to the left 30 degrees is the ONLY way to stop pain.

Ohh, and don?t start me on the whole ?4 tablespoons of blood?, like hell it is.

It just seems that girls are taught the warm and fuzzy side to periods and not the actual truth. Why can?t girls be told, periods are crap, but get use to it?

Rant over.

I think a large part of it is that classes are largely mixed, I think they've given up attempting having a mature discussion about periods infront of gaggling teenage boys lol.

then again we got taught alot about it, just differs from school to school OP?

Yes, possibly, by their mothers, not by the school, and with no scaremongering

Knowledge is power!
But, its not really the schools job is it?!
When it comes to matters of developement, sex and the like, I like to think that I give my Dcs as much information as I possibly appropriately can.
And, I started filling them in on the basics fairly early on. I wanted to get there first with the facts before their helpful little friends got there with the myths and rumours! Id rather that they told others as kids always do and got the facts straight than lived in fear or apprehension because I hadnt given them the right information and they had been filled in by a friend!
As for "Oh and as the owner of a mooncup it is actually about 4 tbsps of blood"...it may well be for you, I personally have to empty my Mooncup 8 or 9 times a day when things are at their peak, definitely more than 4tbsp!

I didn't really understand how my cycle worked until ttc. I started my periods when I was 11 and never kept track of when they were due or how regular.

Dd has been learning about this in school she was in yr5 they separated the boys and the girls. But she still said they haven't told her half the stuff I have.

I wish I had been told that you can get small 'clots' (I know they're not really, but that's how I think of them), it would have saved me a lot of worrying the first time I saw 'matter'. And maybe they need to get a sanitary towel and demonstrate just how little of those 4 tbsp it takes to saturate it.

I'll be passing on 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility' too.

The 'period talk' at my school was done by a Tampax rep, who explained the biology, missing out any relevant info about fertility and handed out samples.

I'd rather see girls taught that there is a range of san pro, that it is worth finding out what suits you best, that cramps can be painful but here are all of the ways to deal with them, that once they have settled down keeping some kind of record of them is a good thing as changes in them can be indicators of health problems.

Why is this level of medical information perceived to be school's responsibility? Do we ask biology teachers to give medical advice, normally? Bring back the qualified school nurse and health education professional.

I remember the period talk at my school (35 years ago!!!!!) and the nurse told us that the blood wasn't real blood and it didn't come from your blood supply. I have spent many years wondering about that!

As a mother, I feel it is up to me to make sure my DD knows everything she needs to about periods, etc. However, as a Y5/6 teacher, I also felt it was my job to make sure the girls in my ssex ed lessons knew all they needed to about periods, etc. Because some parents don't think that it's their job.

"Why is it that no one ever says that cramps hurt like hell? In any literature about this they are uncomfortable?"

I guess because no one wants to terrify them! Most girls, IME, are already pretty terrified of periods without adding more fear.

Plus, telling them they will hurt, will worry those who don't get painful cramps as they'll think there is something wrong.

As long as they don't say "cramps will not hurt" then I don't see the problem.