A Special Mother/Daughter Moment: The Big Talk #KotexMom

We've been referring to it as "the big talk" or "the big P  talk" in our home, which is code for Rylee wanting to ask questions about her period. Yes, she started asking questions quite early and now she has even more. I have to admit, my nerves got the best of me for a while and I kept putting of our talk, not knowing exactly how to approach it. Would I start crying? Would I start giggling like a teenage girl? One thing I knew for certain was that I wanted Rylee's period talk experience to be completely different from my own and pretty much nonexistent.

My parents never wanted to talk to me about getting a period, so what I learned was in my 6th grade sex education class. Needless to say,  what I knew was pretty minimal and, when I got my period, I was mortified not only because I was unprepared, but because my mom was out of town and my dad laughed. Yes, he actually laughed at me... until I made him go buy me some feminine products. I was what you would call a late bloomer, but girls are getting their periods much earlier these days, so I want Rylee to be prepared and I want to do what I can to educate her. Thanks to the U By Kotex Tween site, I was prepared for the talk and ready to answer all questions!

I wasn't sure how to break the ice for the talk or when the right time would occur, but it just happened to present itself while we were at the beach. We'd had lots of mom and daughter time on the beach, going to the pool, looking for shells on the beach and, her favorite, going to play putt-putt. It was an amazing trip and gives us extra time to bond.

How did "the talk" happen? I'm not sure this would be considered an ice breaker, but one night we came back to the room to get ready for dinner. She heard me talking about my period during the trip and was already asking questions about that, so we just started talking about my own experiences with my period. Plus, I was sent a variety of Kotex Tween products to share with Rylee and this was so helpful for her to see them in person. She loves all the colors and actually bragged to the boys later that she gets to wear the pads and he can't. Girls talk at school and most of the things they told her were completely wrong and untrue, so we went through just about everything. She wanted to know if it hurt, how often she would get her period and, my favorite question of all, "Do I get to miss school every month, too?" Ha! Good try, girl!

We went to the beach with my parents, so the great thing is that my mom was there to share her own experiences, too. After speaking with Ry she looked so proud and was actually telling Granny about her period. She told her she is ready for it now and I honestly feel like she is prepared, though I do want her to be my little girl just a little longer, thank you! For any further questions she may have, I directed her to the Hello Period site, which also answers more questions and shares experiences of other teen and tweens. So, if there were any questions that many she just didn't feel comfortable asking or forgot to ask something at the time, at least I know she has a great resource at hand just in case.

As a Mama, I think you will know when the time is right to have a talk, though make time just between mom and daughter. She will appreciate that you took time out just to be with her and, honestly, without brothers around, she is much more likely to open up and feel comfortable. I know we will probably have many other talks in the future about Ry's period, especially after she gets her period for the first time. I think when we first started talking about periods, she seemed scared about getting it, but now she seems excited and sees it more as something to celebrate and that's exactly how I want to keep it. I want her to be proud of becoming a woman!

I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.