To buy sanpro and leave them in the classroom

[HighwayDragon1]

I buy pads (just tesco value ones) and leave them in my classroom, in case any of them are caught short, I buy about one pack a month. The girls know where they are if they need them.

DP thinks it's weird, that the parents should buy them and it's not my responsibility. Now its not, but sometimes you just come on and school must be the worst place for it to happen.

It's not weird is it? How would you feel if your daughters teacher gave her a pad? Is it a line I've crossed? I'm questioning it now.

This is secondary school.

[jaxtsoldlady]

It's lovely of you OP

[alicemalice]

Just leave them in the toilets. And also read about Tampon club - it's ace! I think more schools and workplaces should do this.

www.tampon.club

[MudCity]

It's a lovely, thoughtful thing to do for all the reasons stated above.

You are being a kind human being as well as a teacher and I am sure your pupils are grateful (or will be in years from now when they remember this).

[annandale]

I think a teacher actually mentioning periods, protection and accidents in school would have done a lot for me.

My mother's information on menstruation involved silently placing some (very oldfashioned) equipment in my drawer. My school showed us a film about tampons made by Tampax - that was it, no explanation or discussion. We were told we could ask questions in writing, which I did and a friend of mine read mine out loud and screamed with laughter. I gave the questions in but never got an answer. None of my friends ever discussed periods or what we used. In those days sanpro ads were banned as women complained when they were shown I couldn't use tampons when I tried due to a very robust hymen. Eventually I discovered stick on pads but in those pre wings days they had a tiny strip of glue and used to migrate and bunch up so you could leak anyway. I used safety pins which did help. All my friends seemed so untroubled by it all and i never saw anyone else leaking or struggling. The thought of a teacher just matter of factly making pads available to girls because accidents happen to everyone - just thank you. I still hate having periods and managing them now.

I agree with your dh that you shouldn't have to do this in that the school should pay but you are doing something quite special for both the girls and boys in your care.

[fourkids]

I think it's a lovely thing to do. I started my first period at school -and the horror of this unexpected occurrence is etched in my memory. I didn't realise until I went to the loo and discovered a scene straight from Carrie. It is a something I wish I could forget!

[Kr1stina]

You are lovely . And your DO is being unreasonable . I assume he's male and therefore should stay out of things he doesn't understand .

Yes of course it's not your job. But most teachers do many things that go above and beyond the call of duty

[Roonerspism]

The only thing weird in all this is the refusal by schools to normalise periods.

I think you sound lovely and compassionate and I hope my daughters will one day be taught be someone like you.

What also touched me up was the PP whose male mentor bought her pads.

[Movingonmymind]

So glad times have changed- girls need to have Sanpro normalised, made okay and made freely available wherever they need it without embarrassment/keys/signing in whatever.r. I remember a group of us having to squeeze past a bunch of boys every lesson for chemistry, they'd all look st our knicker lines through our skirts (at their eye level from this perspective) and say "who's on today, then?" Right in front of the male teacher who never ever told them off but instead stood there with an inane grin like he shared the joke. It was excruciating for us all and a crap way to treat girls.

[Ambroxide]

You sound like a really lovely teacher. I am the kind of mother who would and will provide sanitary protection unasked but if you did this for my daughter if she had an accident or didn't have enough or didn't expect it to happen then, I would be eternally grateful to you. Those kinds of situations are just skin-freezingly awful for teenagers. I'd be so grateful that you'd probably be trying to get rid of me and my gushing thanks until my daughter had left the school, basically. The world needs more teachers like you.

[Mummystar123]

This happened to me at school, and my teacher went out at break time and bought me a packet of pads and some cheap tesco Knicks, I was mortified and she was so kind. I dread to think what would have happened that day if she hadn't come to find me in the loos during geography and would hope that the same kindness would be given to my own daughters should the unfortunate getting caught short happen to them. I give my daughters pads to keep in their school bags just in case😉

[Hihohoho1]

You are lovely op.

Thank you from all us mums with dds.

[Movingonmymind]

And even those of us with dses 😊- I don't want them sniggering at the girls they're in class with or thinking any more of Sanpro other than its just as essential as loo roll, as a pp pointed out. Feel it's my duty as a mother to ram it down their throats ensure that

[MidniteScribbler]

Our school does have a supply with the first aid officer, but I also keep a half a dozen little pencil cases in my bottom drawer with a pad, spare knickers, little pack of wet wipes. It's easier to send off an embarassed young girl with one of the pencil cases and a worksheet to 'work in the library' clean themselves up without making it obvious. I buy the pencil cases and knickers at the back to school sales and they don't cost much. Worth the cost for a young girl.

I've also got a couple of spare school skirts (claimed from leftover lost property many years ago) in case they are needed.

[Ambroxide]

Thanks to you, too, Midnite. How lovely to think of this. I want my DD to go to a school with a teacher like this when her time comes.

[magnificatAnimaMea]

OP that is lovely. You have made me tear up. Why don't you show yur DH this thread if he doesn't understand why you do it.

My mother refused to discuss any of that kind of thing with me, and refused to buy sanpro for me (she bought it for my sister though, hideous codependent relationship that continues to this day). Occasionally she would scream blue murder at me for using too much toilet paper (she used to ration it) or stealing my sister's sanpro and accuse me of being likely to get pregnant because I was such a slut. Everyone else at school seemed to have such an easy time of it, while I was running to the loo for more loo paper between classes and silently praying I'd make it to the end of the class/ that the loo would have enough paper in it. Even now (I'm nearly 40) my mother makes public barbed comments, at which my sister and my father laugh hysterically, about me using too much toilet paper.

[UnDeuxTroisCatsSank]

In an ideal world, parents would provide sanpro for their daughters and girls would remember to take said sanpro to school when they needed it.

Sadly, we don't live in an ideal world.

Parents forget / can't afford / don't want to talk about periods ...

Girls forget the sanpro / come one unexpectedly / can't talk to their parents.

That's the real world, your DH might like to visit!

[Haffdonga]

Without being all man-hating about it, no man can possibly get what it's like to be a shy 13 year old girl, mortified because she's been caught short and is leaking.

You are lovely. Don't expect your dh to get it.

[LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726]

A very kind and thoughtful thing for you to do, HighwayDragon. I remember having very heavy and irregular periods when I was in school and often didn't have any sanitary protection. I would have been so grateful to you.

[Tillyscoutsmum]

There is a basket of sanitary products in the girl's toilets in the school I work in. (Primary - in the Year 5/6 toilets).

[itsbetterthanabox]

I wish any of my teachers were that nice.
I started periods very young and they are heavy.
I remember leaking at school and having no pads left. I tied my jumper round my waist to cover it! My trousers were covered.

[LuluJakey1]

When I was a Head of Year I had all kinds of things - pads, tampons, make up remover, nail varnish remover, hair things, little info books etc.

[Gobbolino6]

This is lovely.

[MidniteScribbler]

Ah yes, the hair things. I must go through a packet of those a month.

[Rainbowlou1]

I work in year 6 and think it's lovely of you!
I spent many an embarrassing time at school using tissue paper and tying jumpers aroundmy waist as my mum wasn't very forthcoming in asking if/when I needed anything..luckily my best friends older brother then got a girlfriend who used to go to the shops For me every month!!

[Filmstar01]

It's a bit sad that you feel the need to do this but wonderful that you do. My daughter and I always - honestly always - have products with us but I'm organised like that. My daughter has sometimes given them to her friends when they've needed them. Not a problem as far as I'm concerned, just a shame that others aren't organised and open about it. I don't mean that to sound as pious as it does!