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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Or is this PE teacher unreasonable about periods

706 replies

BigSandyBalls2015 · 26/01/2017 21:32

DD(15) is doing GCSE PE. Part of this involves 'personal survival' which takes place in local swimming pool.

The school obv need to book this, can't just turn up, but DD queried what would happen if some of the girls had their period at the time. PE teacher (female) replied that they'd obviously have to use a tampon, they can't miss it, can't arrange another day. A few girls told her they didn't use/get on with tampons and she got annoyed saying they'd have to get on with it on the day as no other option.

OP posts:
Offred · 28/01/2017 22:09

I'd have the PE slot allocated to optional actual exercise or health education classes.

Offred · 28/01/2017 22:10

And an incentives system for kids who cycled/walked to school.

Reality16 · 28/01/2017 22:13

I'd have the PE slot allocated to optional actual exercise. Well since the entire thread is about an optional GSCE that the OPDD chose to take I can't quite see what point your are trying make here.

Offred · 28/01/2017 23:00

The point that I object to compulsory PE for high school kids... HTH

Reality16 · 28/01/2017 23:24

The point that I object to compulsory PE for high school kids... HTH

That is not what this thread is about. HTH

Offred · 28/01/2017 23:30

Threads don't always stick to the exact OP... a bit like 'I seriously despair at some people. While I don't think anyone should be told they HAVE to do anything it is quite bizarre to think anyone who has not had intercourse is anatomically incapable of using a tampon'

Hmm
Reality16 · 28/01/2017 23:35

Random. Quoting me quoting someone else Hmm

Offred · 28/01/2017 23:38

Well, I just quoted you... going off the exact topic of the op, actually.

Offred · 28/01/2017 23:39

Are you always so facetious and smug?

Reality16 · 28/01/2017 23:40

Are you always so facetious and smug. You did facetious and smug when I asked a question and got a reply followed by HTH..

Offred · 28/01/2017 23:42

Ok... you asked a genuine question because you really actually didn't understand my absolutely clear point(!)

You weren't actually trying to make a point about only being 'allowed' to directly speak about the issues in the OP...

OK...

Offred · 28/01/2017 23:43

Do you always try and cause pointless arguments in an empty room or is this an AIBU special?

foxyloxy78 · 28/01/2017 23:45

The teacher is being a moron. Totally unreasonable.

Patriciathestripper1 · 28/01/2017 23:47

No all some of the Olympic swimmers stop their periods with drugs so it dosnt affect training but I wouldn't recommend someone does this just because the pe teacher is an arse.

luckylorca · 28/01/2017 23:50

1). Firstly, to the posters on here who go swimming when they have their periods and use nothing: DISGUSTING!!! (Would it be ok for someone to swim in the pool with a full-on nose-bleed? No? Then what's the difference?!!)

2). To all those who say that even WITH tampons etc they leak when they swim as their periods are so heavy... As an endometriosis sufferer who had horrendous, 8 day periods from the age of 13, I have a bit of advice which will change your life. After seeing a Chinese medicine acupuncturist, I never had a single period pain again, never leaked again, never even had another period that lasted longer than 3 days!

So, if you or your daughter are suffering with terribly heavy, long or painful periods and embarrassing leaks: please, please, go and see a Chinese medicine doctor soon! It will change your life, I promise!

bonbonours · 28/01/2017 23:59

Tricky this one. I don't think anyone should be forced to use tampons. Although I used them from my very first period aged 12 and can't see what the trouble is (or why anyone would choose to wear what feels like a nappy instead), I still don't think anyone can or should make someone use them.

BUT teenage girls are quite likely to want to skip PE through laziness/not liking sport/not wanting to mess up their hair etc etc and short of getting them to prove they are on their period (basically impossible), schools could be in the position of half the class having licence to say "I can't do PE," whenever they don't feel like it, which is not really acceptable either. Not that anybody has the time but even if they had some kind of spreadsheet of dates they couldn't prove whether anyone had a period or not as teenagers can be very irregular.

I'm not keen on the idea of forcing teenagers to use tampons, but I'm also not keen on the idea of teaching them you can use your period as an excuse not to do anything you don't fancy. As many others have said, even if your periods are horrible. heavy, painful etc, life still doesn't stop one a month, and if that is the case for you, difficult as it may be, you do have to find a way to get on with life nonetheless.

Offred · 29/01/2017 00:04

Yeah you do have to find a way, but doing PE isn't a thing there is any justification for you 'having to do'. Yes, doing an exam that has to be at a certain time fine. If you can accommodate periods (as you can with GCSE PE) then you should.

Trifleorbust · 29/01/2017 03:35

Italiangreyhound: With respect, please don't talk to me like I am stupid. I am not 'not getting it'; I just don't agree with you! It's okay for us to disagree.

strawberrisc · 29/01/2017 04:42

I'm 40. Yes I've learned to deal with periods. I've never, ever come to terms with fucking PE teachers.

Trifleorbust · 29/01/2017 06:42

Offred: The way our education system is set up doesn't allow for 'pick and choose' all the way through school, unfortunately. Children need to follow a curriculum and that curriculum either includes PE or it does not. If we removed PE from compulsory education as you suggest, there would be thousands of children who did no exercise to speak of at all Confused

OhTheRoses · 29/01/2017 07:01

My DD had a septate hymen. She needs surgery to use a tampon. Diagnosed at 16 because she talked to me, had had a look with a mirror and concluded there was a structural problem. It really isn't all about "getting on with it". Fortunately she wasn't part of swim squad.

Not all young people have supportive parents for those sorts of discussions.

Offred · 29/01/2017 09:38

A minority of children currently choose not to do any exercise at all in PE lessons and really half an hour a week of directed PE is hardly any exercise anyway and a tiny proportion of the exercise most kids get in a week. They probably get more exercise moving between classes.

Trifleorbust · 29/01/2017 09:58

Offred: So we need more PE, not less.

Offred · 29/01/2017 10:18

I don't think that necessarily follows. Kids desperately need better quality education about health, exercise and nutrition. The issue with obesity is more to do with the sheer amount of sugar children have access to than the amount of exercise they get.

We have a neighbour that my son is always playing out with, they will spend whole days cycling around and chasing each other with nerf guns. He is morbidly obese because his parents give him £10 a day to go out of the house and he spends it all on sweets, crisps, chocolate and energy drinks. My son is now overweight from sharing his haul and has recently decided to go on a low calorie diet and has taken me round the shops explaining what he can swap his crappy snacks for.

Trifleorbust · 29/01/2017 10:24

Offred: Exercise isn't just about obesity. Heart, bones, mental health - the ongoing health of all these all require someone to exercise regularly. You hated PE, fine, but that's no reason to disadvantage hundreds of thousands of kids, is it?