‘Teaching’ 6 year old about periods

[Adviceplease82]

I am a single mum and it is just myself and my son who is 6.
we are due to go on holiday soon and I will be on my period for some of this time. On the first day of my period I do not want to swim. I am incredibly heavy and just do not want to.
My initial thought was to be open with my son as to why, however a friend made me think twice saying she hadn’t yet spoken to her 8 year old daughter about this subject.
I am really open with him in general and would do it in an age appropriate way (or try to)
my thinking was/ is that I don’t see any harm in him knowing this is something females go through and I don’t need to make a big deal about it.
or am I unreasonable and is it inappropriate for him to learn some basics at his age?

I’m not sure DS2 (7) would know, because I don’t have them thanks to the coil…I’d happily tell him if he asked but it has t come up. If he were a DD he’d know by now lest he started at the younger end!

My sons have known about periods since forever. It's never too soon to normalise bodily functions.

To be honest I have always really enjoyed explaining stuff like this to my DC - the human body is amazing and it’s incredibly cool to be able to explain how your body made them out of a tiny egg. Periods are just part of that story.

Be a bit careful about saying that you're not swimming because you're having your period though.....think about how you're going to phrase that.

No problem about him not knowing already,by the way. I reckon 6 is about the right age for him to really understand.

YANBU

My DD is 8... not gonna lie as far as I know she knows nothing about periods. I haven't hid it and I know it's not shameful... it's just never come up!
And she's never seen me change pads/tampons. I mainly use a mooncup which I change with locked door or period pants.... which do get hung in the bathroom to dry but she's never asked why!
I am aware this is a conversation I need to have with her though!

As to OP just tell your son. Don't worry what your friend thinks. We all parent OUR individual children how we think is best. And it certainly won't do any harm for him to be informed.

My 8yo and 6yo have known about periods since they could ask questions. I think your friend is pretty irresponsible to have not explained periods to her 8yo dd, she could well start her periods soon and she will be terrified if she doesn't understand what is going on with her body.

You really should have this conversation. Several girls in my son’s year started at age 9 and 10. Imagine if they didn’t know what to expect? How terrifying and isolating that would be? Please prepare your DD, just in case she’s one of those girls.

My 5 year old DS has known about periods for a while.

Don't think it's too young!! My small children know about periods as they have seen pads etc so I explained about it.

My boys have also known about periods, I never hid it from them and they didn't give me much privacy when they were small!

All my kids knew about periods in an age appropriate from about the age of 2. It's up to you when you tell your son and has nothing to do with your friend.

My son knew from the age of 5 and daughter 3, I was never on the bathroom alone and they asked. I explained that my body makes a cushion inside my tummy incase there is a baby. If it gets old then it comes out as blood and my body makes a new cushion.

i agree, it took me back a bit, her reasoning being that she has a lifetime to deal with it all and she doesn’t want to tell her sooner than she needs to! 🤷‍♀️

Eh? My 3yo is aware, albeit in no great detail. She knows blood comes out sometimes, that it's called a period, and that I wear period pants when it happens. She also knows it'll happen to her one day when she's a grown-up.

Just say to your son "I don't want to go swimming the first day as I'll be on my period." He'll ask what that is, do just tell him the basics. If he wants to know more, he'll ask, if he's heard enough, he won't.

now people are commenting on this aspect I’m surprised it hasn’t come to earlier too! Tampons are out in the bathroom, usually a couple in my bag, I think at some point when he was loads younger I just said they are tampons and used by girls and he hasn’t asked me since, so it’s in front of him and normal but he hasn’t been given any additional info.
Following this post I’m going to give him some more detail.

I’ve told them the basics - once a month women’s bodies make an egg and if she doesn’t want to have a baby it comes out with some blood, it doesn’t hurt (lol) but it can give you a little tummy ache sometimes

Perfectly said @35965a and roughy what I told my daughter

Plus she knows basics as was ivf so knows I needed some help to get baby in tummy

Love mouse up your bum 😂

So yes tell your son about periods but I would also consider taking tablets so that a weeks holiday isn't ruined

That just sounds like reinforcing the idea that there’s something unpleasant or shameful about periods. They are just a basic and normal bodily function, there is zero need to withhold information about them, any more than you’d not talk about sneezing.

I have always been open with my child about periods in an age appropriate way. That way she will never have to have a big scary talk. She will never feel the fear of coming on her period and not knowing what is going on. It is natural. She knows what it is. I've told her about the lining of the uterus, what it is for and why it comes away each month. She knows not everyone has them. Its on a basic level but she actually learnt really quickly with a couple of questions and now its just a fact she knows. If she comes in the toilet when I'm changing a towel I dont hide it.

In my view this approach is respectful and much more beneficial to her than not knowing, finding out misinformation from her peers or too late and it being a big thing or scary. I had friends whose mums didn't tell them - one told her that she would tell her when she had blood in her pants. They were needlessly scared. Why do that to a child. If my.child tells others at school and their parents complain I'll have something to say to them about why they're doing their child a disservice by not educating them properly about something as simple and natural as how bodies work. Information keeps kids safe.

Why on earth do people get so bothered by children knowing normal bodily functions beats me.

I've two boys both always knew as I didn't hide it. The sooner children are educated in biology the better in my opinion. The amount of ignorance by adults needs to be bred out in this generation.

My primary aged boys know about periods, so I think it’s fine to explain why you don’t feel comfortable swimming.

Just don’t make anything sound scary. Blood coming from anywhere sounds bad to a child, so it’s important to explain it as a very standard bodily function.

Thanks all, in complete honesty I think I have maybe been a bit less forthcoming as he has a huge fear of blood (after witnessing a very bad accident age 2)
so whilst I’ve been trying to work through this with him I think I’ve probably thought he wouldn’t be able to process the idea of a lot of blood and not have a negative association with it.
I do realise as I type this that it doesn’t make sense as it will be evidence that blood doesn’t equal bad!! However I also know he didn’t even like the word till about age 4 so I struggled to find the wording previously

If I had a daughter I'd plan to explain at the age of 8, in case they started earlier than average.

My son found out at 7 though because he walked in on me in the loo and was extremely concerned 🤣 I gave an explanation similar to previous posters.

Yanbu, all children should know about regularly occurring events like this. I remember having a twinge in my back and my little boy casually asking if I'd like a hot water bottle... He was so used to a sore back signalling a period that he naturally wanted to help.

I think it should be normal that we all understand what might be happening to the people around us so we can offer some compassion.