How were you told about the onset of periods

Learnt in secondary school we were given a lesson on sex , babies and periods and at the end a pamphlet to keep.
I was 12 my mother had told me that the fairies had left me in the garden, this when I was about 7 and when I told her later on that I had a lesson on periods etc she just said ‘that’s good’

I learned from biology lesson in school, the day instated I'd been in a really bad mood ,my ma was having a go at me shouting and asked e what was the matter with me but not in a caring manner so I yelled downstairs"I've started my bloody period today!" She just said "oh right,well there's no need to carry on about it!" No special conversation no sympathy just some Dr.Whites of my sister's shoved at me. Then she embarrassed me totally by taking me to a local haberdashery shop (remember them?) To get me sorted out with a sanitary belt! Making me try it on for the 2old dears and her to see of it fit !!!!! Bloody nightmare.

Mummer

I learned from biology lesson in school, the day instated I'd been in a really bad mood ,my ma was having a go at me shouting and asked e what was the matter with me but not in a caring manner so I yelled downstairs"I've started my bloody period today!" She just said "oh right,well there's no need to carry on about it!" No special conversation no sympathy just some Dr.Whites of my sister's shoved at me. Then she embarrassed me totally by taking me to a local haberdashery shop (remember them?) To get me sorted out with a sanitary belt! Making me try it on for the 2old dears and her to see of it fit !!!!! Bloody nightmare.

#I STARTED!!!!

1974 aged 14 , mother handed me a Dr whites and told me to keep away from boys . I felt quite unwell but no sympathy . I then had to ask her to buy me pads every month and to be careful to make sure I kept a few over as she wouldn't buy them until I needed them . I thought that was cruel and constantly worried about not having any sanitary towels.
My sons partners are quite open and will announce without any embarrassment that they have pmt or they're feeling unwell because they're on their period . It's not a taboo subject which is good .
Reading some of these has made me feel quite sad . Our mother's could be quite harsh couldn't they .

We were shown 2 films at age 13 at grammar school. Preparation for parenthood and growing girls.
Growing girls showed Mary riding a bike then talked about periods.
Preparation for parenthood was just diagrams about how eggs were fertilised and how baby grew. Nothing about how sperms got there though.
Nobody spoke no questions no discussion just watched the films and then class ended. No mention of sex or sanitary protection, or contraception. I learned a lot more from reading a family medical book.

I was only 9 when I started my periods. Having two older sisters I knew something about it and when it happened my Mum said that I was now a young lady and that she was proud of me . However, a girl in my class said that she wasn’t allowed to play with me anymore as her mother said I was dirty and had ‘been with boys’. My Mum explained that the women should be pitied for her ignorance so I was alright with that but when I had daughters of my own my Mum and l did speculate on how she had drawn that conclusion from an early onset of menstruation. ?

#Kali2 I was the same as your mother. I thought I was bleeding to death. My mother gave me a sanitary belt and towel and told me to stay away from boys. I sat the whole day crying because I thought I was dying. I was 11.

I’m grateful to say my mum (75 now) was modern for her time, periods /sex etc was nothing to be ashamed off. She told me all sorts in the easiest understandable way. I looked forward to my periods in a way, and both parents made me feel quite ‘grown up’ when they came at 15…still we came from west London, swinging 60’s maybe that had something to do with their own outlook in life

I can't really remember , but I'm sure my mother had already told me about them, she had already purchased sanitary towels ( I knew she used Tampax )
For my daughters , periods were never a secret , they grew up knowing it's something that happens when a girl reaches puberty.

Leedee Your parents sound like mine, both had been living in London when they met in the 1960’s dad in Wimbledon and mum in Knightsbridge and had travelled and lived abroad so I think their cosmopolitan up bringings had a lot to do with it!

Like so many of you here, no one told me anything and I thought I was bleeding to death.

Anything "down there " was taboo. An Aunt died of cancer because she failed to see a doctor for that very reason.

I introduced it very gradually to both my daughters and each one had a little party and period cake in the week they started.

I was 12 when my mum started hemorrhaging on a regular basis and her tummy started growing. She was fairly quickly taken in to hospital and had ovarian cancer, which had spread into her uterus.

Mum was very ill, and in hospital for months and someone at the hospital told me about periods and the purpose of the ovaries, uterus, etc. I was also told about increased risks for me because of mum, It left me with a terrible fear everytime I leaked.

Oh my goodness! Been laughing like a drain since reading this!! Did she ever recover??

I saw a used towel in the school toilets and was told you had to wear them after a certain age, I thought this meant all the time. When mine started my mum just said even cows had periods and I was imaging cows wearing STs!

With little sympathy or understanding. “That’s what happens to you. You’re a woman now!” At twelve! And oh yes, no tampons for me in case I was no longer a virgin.

I knew nothing: all girls Catholic school! No talk at school from teachers or friends, completely oblivious. At age 11 my Mum called me to the bathroom as she'd seen stains in underwear. She gave me a sanitary towel (what the Hell was this!) and a length if tape and said to wear it! I had no idea what to do or the reason for it. Ten days went by! Yes, this is true! I went to her bed very early one mng (she and dad were asleep) I whispered in her ear "could I have another 'thing' as I knew the odour was putrid" she was shocked and said "why are you still wearing it".
I didnt have a clue! It was an awful time for me, chronic cramps and sickness followed over the years; alas Mum gave me Anadin to control pain, for which (unbeknown at the time) I was allergic to the Quinine in the drug which caused nausea. At aged 23 I had an ovary+fallopian tube removed due to acute Endometriosis; ghastly periods!

My mum explained early on which was good because I started when I was 10 years old. My friend who was a year older and went to the grammar school came over excitedly after school one day eager to tell me what you had to do to have babies that she had been taught at school.
I can remember feeling incredulous at this information and folding my arms indignantly and announcing “Well you won’t catch me doing anything like that!” I obviously hadn’t really understood because I then said “ ok, suppose you are in hospital about to have a baby and you haven’t ‘done it”
My friend obviously hadn’t fully understood either because she replied “oh well…………. I suppose they get your husband to come and do it quick!” ???

I wasn’t told at all. I was very late starting at almost 16and learnt about it from my friends. Bought my own sanitary products from money earned at a Saturday job!

I can remember a time when I wondered what the box of weird cotton things with strings in the bathroom was. I don’t actually remember being told about periods. But our mum must have as when we had a lesson on it in primary school (girls only, boys were sent off to do something else) I knew all about it. I’d have been 10-11 then but mine didn’t start until I was 14.

My grandmother made sure my mum knew all about it ahead of time as her mother didn’t.
Which I think was unusual for the time judging by the number of older women who weren’t prepared.
I’m 60 for reference.

I had seen my mother's packets of sanitary towels in the bathroom cupboard from an early age. When I asked aged 3 or 4 what they were for, my mother said grown-up women used them once a month and that we didn't need to talk about it until I was a big girl.

When I was about 11 and the first slight signs of breasts developing showed, Mummy sat me and a slightly older friend, whose mother was too embarrassed to discuss it with her daughter down and told us why women have periods and that we would have them once a month unless we were going to have a baby, until we were 45 or 50, when periods stop again, and you no longer can have a baby.

We discussed sanitary protection, but having grown up in a doctor's household I knew and had told my friend too where babies came from, as I had often seen ladies with large tummies in the waiting-room, and the local midwives dropped in frequently for coffee with the family, and afterwards a chat behind closed doors with Daddy about Mrs some-one or other who was having a baby.

We were five doctor's daughters, a midwife's daughter and two nurses' daughters in my class at school. Our Scripture teacher got very, very cross when we all started laughing at the Hebrew midwives telling Pharaoh that the Israelite women gave birth so quickly that the midwives, who were supposed to be killing the boy children couldn't get there.

We knew very well that it takes hours for a baby to be born.

We were the classroom authorities on the subject of babies, periods etc.

My mum did tell me but a very matter of fact don't ask any conversations type of thing and very closed book about it all.

Told all sorts of daft things not to do, ride a bike or wash my hair!!

I was told the 'facts of life' by my best friend in my last year at primary school. Her Mum had given her a booklet so although she knew the correct terminology for the reproductive organs she did not know how to pronounce the words, and quite got a few wrong!
I went home and asked my Mum where babies came from. She passed me a useless leaflet with a bit at the back about 'growing up' which was unintelligible. She asked me if I had any questions and I didn't because I already knew. Eventually I did ask her what I should do 'when it happened' and she showed me a belt and pads she had bought for me which she kept in her dressing table drawer in case my younger sister saw it and I was told NOT to say anything to my sister!
When I started aged 12 I showed Mum the stain in my pants. She went to get the belt and pads but she had used all the pads herself so I had to use towelling until she got back from the shops.
The belt and pads were actually quite modern for the time; the slim, flushable pads poppered into a plastic lining with an elastic belt which sat low on the hips.

My mother told me when I was about 10. Apparently she had been waiting for me to ask about babies etc. I knew they grew in mother's tummies but I must have realised that women knew they were pregnant before tummy got big! I asked how did they know, and that gave her the opportunity to tell me all about periods (and everything else).

My mum told me absolutely nothing. I was an early starter, just about 11, and when mum discovered some blood in my knickers whilst doing laundry, she promptly sent me next door to our lovely neighbour, who was a little bit younger than mum. She explained everything in a very matter of fact and simple way. On returning home, mum shoved a sanitary belt and Dr whites pack of towels at me, and basically left me to get on with things! The following month, my lovely neighbour took me to the chemist and bought me a pack of towels which stuck in your pants, no need for a belt! a revelation. Bless my old mum, she was a bit odd!

I'm surprised at how many posters were told little or nothing. In Ireland in early 60s, in a convent school, we were given a book to read, though most girls knew the "facts" already and it was a regular subject of discussion!