Mother nature, period, that time of the month……whatever you choose to call it, is inevitable. I tried to avoid it like it was an acute plague. I had conversations with my daughter about it but we never truly had the “talk”. When that time came for me as a mommy, I was an emotional wreck. I cried because my daughter was prancing into womanhood and I was stressed because this came so quickly…where in the heck did my baby go?

As I was back then, my daughter was embarrassed and didn’t want to do the pad shopping. She shied away from the topic and every time I would share the news with close friends and family (females only of course), she would leave the room. I needed support, kind of like a ‘moms who have to deal with their daughters on their menstrual cycle support group’! I knew it was and still is an emotional thing for both her and myself.

Yes, we are dealing with the mood swings, the cramps, the migraines and the sassiness. But I will conquer this once a month beast called daughter (laughter)…….but seriously I just made sure she is well equipped and well knowledgeable about how to take care of herself during that time of the month.
Alright…. moms who are battling the same beast or moms that are soon to do battle with the beast:

• Make sure that you have some pads so that they are always there when needed. I would not (I’m not a doctor) start them off with tampons, not a good idea in my book.
• Make sure that they know how to take care of soiled undergarments.
• Midol Teen and heating pads will be your daughters new BFF
• Enforce the quote “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”…….translation……..If you can smell you, we can smell you. Make sure your daughter is consistent with checking themselves for overflow and inform them that showers twice a day, while on, wouldn’t hurt….lol.
• Make sure that you have a gynecologist in mind. I think that 11 and 12 year olds can still see their PCP but 13 and up……take them to see the ‘basement doc’ to keep the pipes and spicket working well.

Good luck moms and hopefully I will see you in the support group….smiles!