AIBU to have sanitary products on display?

[Howvery]

And by on display I don’t mean on a golden stand under a spotlight but on a shelf in my bathroom.
We have had friends and there DC (dd 8 and ds 6) to stay this weekend.
I have a box of tampons and packet of sanitary towels on a shelf in the bathroom. I went in and noticed they weren’t there, after hunting found them in the cupboard under the sink with the cleaning products, I put them back on the shelf. Just assumed it was DH who has form for throwing things in the nearest cupboard when ‘tidying’. Went back to the loo later that day and noticed again they had been put in the cupboard.
I went back in the lounge and said to DH, can you stop putting my stuff away in the cleaning cupboard. That’s when friend pipes up ‘oh I moved them I don’t think it is appropriate for them to be out especially where the DC can see them’. I was quite perplexed by this, but carried on the rest of the weekend, sanitary products hidden away as to not scar the children.

AIBU to think this is a totally bizarre way of thinking??? Firstly it’s my bathroom, can have things out if I want and find it rude that someone would put them away but secondly to think it is inappropate for children to see them, especially as she has a DD who is 8!
It’s a silly thing but the more I think about it the more flabbergasted I am!!

I have boys- late teens and uni now. I have always kept my san pro out. Plus it’s all in different absorbances etc, because friends and family know they can just take what they need, along with the little bags to dispose and put it in our bathroom bin (I know some MN hate them, but I would rather that then people feel embarrassed carrying it to the kitchen). Now they are older they have girlfriends and friends that are girls come over, and I always point it out to them and say help yourself when they first come over. Dp did say to me ‘you’ll embarrass them saying that’ the first time I said it to ds’s girlfriend when they were both 14. Then ds came in after she had left and said ‘X was really happy what you said about tampons etc, as she worries, when she goes to friends where to put it’. So I did have a little stick my tongue out moment at dp.

But I don’t get what’s so shameful about it? My boys have always known what it is for- obviously explaining more as they got older. Ds14 came home in year 8, saying he had been kept in for 20 minutes at lunch, as his friend overhead a girl say she had period pains and this boy started making fun of her. So ds had a go at this boy, which turned into shouting in the hallway hence the (short) detention. As the boys left the detention the teacher whispered to ds ‘nice to see you sticking up for the girls on something so personal’. I smiled when ds told me what had happened.

I keep mine on one of the shelves in my bathroom. No one bats an eyelid at them. They’re just below the spare loo rolls.

I have ds's and have never thought to hide them. Both ds pay no mind to my bathroom bits.
They are older now so know what they are and still don't care.
Now if you had KYJelly about I'd understand lol

What a CF!

You're not being unreasonable at all. It's the sort of attitude of your friend that shames woman for menses.

I've got boys and have always just kept mine out ready to grab. All of them know what they are, I've always been honest. The only time there was a problem was when toddler DS1 decided to decorate his bedroom wall with a packet of sanitary towels. It was a work of art.

That’s when friend pipes up ‘oh I moved them I don’t think it is appropriate for them to be out especially where the DC can see them’

at which point you told her to grow the fuck up? (sorry - harsh, but really!)

Some people are just weird, they are always on display in my bathroom, having me and 2 teens which use them they are often lying around close to the toilet in easy reach. No one wants to be rummaging around looking for them when they are needed. Most of my friends houses have them in their bathrooms too.

Mine are on a (high) window sill when I'm on as the cupboard is a bit too high for.me to be faffing in & out of all the time. DD (6) sees them & has asked what they are but I haven't told her anything yet, but I keep them around to normalise it/them.

What an odd woman.

It's not as if you had a butt plug or a big veiny dildo on the shelf.

I think next time your friend comes round you should wear your new earrings, you know the green stringy ones with the white cotton dangly bits.

TBH I am in the 'put them away' camp - not least because they are more clutter that you don't need out and can attract germs. And if you haven't had conversations yet about periods with the kids then I would agree it would better for them not to see them, otherwise they'll think they are toys and stickers, haha!

I would have been a total shit and put them in the middle of the coffee table, surrounded by a tasteful biscuit arrangement.

My Mum's cat stole my box of tampons, parachuted out of the bathroom window and dumped them on a neighbour's compost heap. Thank God no snowflakes were gardening at the time....

Your friend is a nut job

@Catsandbootsandbootsandcats I love your user name, it is how I show the kids in year 3 how cool I am that I can beatbox (heard it on Woman's Hour on radio 4 when they interviewed Bellatrix so I think that kills the cred.)

OP - In the primary school I'm in there are sanitary bins in the year 4 toilets. Out of 90 pupils we usually have 1 or 2 girls start their periods in year 4. So aged 8 or 9.

I have sons but they both know about sanpro and have seen it unwrapped and in the case of a tampon, seen it expand in water science nerds the pair of them.

I remember when the corner shop used to give them to me in a brown paper bag to hide the shame of needing them I assume

I honestly didn’t think women hid their san pro anymore. I understand if you put them in cupboards because you like everything away clean and tidy. But that’s different to hiding for fear of a child seeing them. If children grow up seeing them, then it’s normal for them. As mentioned up thread I have boys, but I can imagine it’s more important that girls know what they are and that their is no shame in it.

Do you think she hid them because she is too embarrassed to talk to her children about them? (Which I should hope she is doing with an 8 year old).

Your friend is nuts. Nuts AND rude in moving your stuff. Send her the link to this thread!

(that said although I would think it was odd if I saw someone else's out on display I wouldn't move them!)

and can attract germs

Pinkbells whatever do you mean? Towels are usually in a plastic bag (and sometimes individually-wrapped within that) and tampons have a sealed paper or plastic cover. And putting stuff in a drawer doesn't magically exclude "germs" anyway.

Does she have a decorative cover for her loo roll?

I'd move them too ... but only because my children (wild animals) think it's hilarious to use tampax like party poppers. My in-laws hide them away, not even allowed in the bathroom nor do they have a bathroom bin, I'm constantly confused at how that works.

I dont need them anymore, and dd hides hers the minute the shopping is unpacked. I still thinks it's weird you would go to someone's house and move theirs though. I wouldn't have any issue leaving them out in the bathroom.