periods

tampax tampons used to come in these cool cardboard applicators, and if you gave them a good intentional whack on one end, well then the cotton tampon would be propelled out like a soft bullet.

As a young boy growing up in a house full of women, I had no idea what a tampon was. But I knew quite well what "cotton rockets" were. My mom arrived upon the scene to witness the yard covered in unused tampons that i had been shooting here and there, under the sly pretext of Star Wars battles and Spider Man adventures. My dog was chasing after the tampons and chewing them up. It was sunny, and I remember that that was a really fun afternoon.

I can't imagine what she thought. I think I got the "facts-of-life" intro speech not long after that.

werewill

When was about 7 years old, my family went to sizzler and my mom let me go to the bathroom by myself.

I found an empty tampax carboard tube on the floor. I had never seen one before. So I brought it out to the table announcing that I had found a "telescope" in the bathroom.

My grandmother (having never used tampons apparently) didn't see what the problem was about me playing with this object.

Natch my mother and sister were mortified! I still laugh (and am grossed out) about this incident to this day!

bf

When my brother was still much younger, he used to like going through my things. One day he came across a box of tampons and wanted to know what it was used for. Embarassed (because he asked this infront of some of my male friends), I explained to him that tampons were used in case of a nose bleed. He believed me then, but I think he knows all about it now. Luckily he never had any nose bleeds when I was around...

M.S.R.

I'm posting this anonomously because even though no-one knows this story, it still makes me blush to repeat it...

One sunny summers afternoon my Mother was sunbathing nude (on her front) in the back yard. Not such a shocking thing to do in a private space and with only your family around. Except when her darling daughter pointed out she had a 'string' near her bottom, and did she want me to get it for her. I don't think she's moved so quickly since!

Red faced

My parents decided to educate me early about my period, when I was seven. I didn't quite understand it though- I thought that girls got it only once, and it lasted for 28 days. A few years later I found out the truth and I was quite pissed off.

Jo

I remember once my mom was explianing periods to me. She told me that when I had my period, I couldn't go near water. Wide-eyed, I asked, "I can't even drink water?" I thought that for a while.

Ashls

I'd once heard maxi pads referred to as "feminine napkins", so for a while I used to think that when I got my period I would have to put a dinner napkin down my pants.

Athazagoraphobia

My mom never told me about girls getting a period...When I was 10 yrs. old I woke up one morning to having some blood in my panties, well I thought I scratched myself in my sleep but I was very PRIVATE girl and did not go to my mother about it...as the day progressed I saw drops and tried looking with a mirror to see where I scratched myself...NO LUCK!!...the next morning I woke up and there was even more blood spots so I put BANDAIDS all over my private area but to no avail it continued and was only getting worse...so I finally went to my mother TOTALLY EMBARESSED to say "Mom I scratched myself and it just wont stop bleeding and I have tried using bandaids to cover the scratch but it's not working"...Needless to say my mother wanted to see and when I showed her or rather she could tell it waas not a scratch but my first period...It took everything for her to not laugh at the site of bandaids everwhere from front to back...She proceeded to tell me then what it was...One thing she told me was now I was a "Woman" so to speak and I had to stay away from boys..lol...I sure made sure when I had my daughter to tell her very early on about this subject...lol

SP

I had to tell my 17 year old boyfriend that when a girl has her period the blood actually comes OUT of her body. He was extremely grossed out! I still haven't figured out what he thought happened to it!

Emily

i was talking to a guy friend of mine (very close) and he thought that when you had your period that the blood would spurt out like when men ejaculate...you can not imagine how embarrassed he was....

Julie

Once, me and my next-door-neighbour, who was a boy, found my mum's pads under the sink. We, being only 4 and no knowing what they were, assumed they were for protecting your head. We stuck them to our foreheads and ran outside to play. The whole road witnessed this, including my friend's dad, and mum was red, to say the least!

Holl

At the age of around six I overhead my mother talking to an older cousin about periods. I could tell this was grown up business from the hushed tones they spoke in. I asked what was a period, and was told rather mystically (or so I remember) that I would know I had grown up when I got an egg with blood in it.

This entirely changed the context of boiled/poached/fried eggs for me. I would become alarmed as soon as I saw one on my dinner plate, and hack it to bits for fear it might contain the blood of my transition to womanhood.

A few years later, classroom gossip revealed that, in fact, I would require pads to cover my nipples from which blood would squirt ferociously during this perplexing and scary monthly occurence.

And they say childhood is the best time of your life.

Clairey Moo

My friend noticed, when watching her mum come out of the bath one night that there was a white string dangling between her legs. When she asked her mum what it was, her mum answered that she had a mouse living in her tummy...for years my friend believed this and told everyone about the mouse...!

Anon

When I was about 10 my friends and I were discussing periods.. according to them it happend once a month and you passed an egg like a hen's egg... I remember being scared wittless about it.. thinking.. where am I gona hide all these eggs?

Anon

When i was little, i used to think that women would wear pads for when they pooped their pants. So one day, when my mom was changing her pad while i was in the bathroom, i said "haha mommy! u pooped your pants!"

Anon

when i was around 9 years old, i went to my friend's house with several of our other friends. we found her mother's tampons, and tried putting them in to see what it was like. anyways, my friend came out of the bathroom and said she felt constipated. it turned out she had stuck it up her bum.

luna

Alright, have two for you.

When I was around 6, I stumbled upon my mom's tampons. For some unknown reasons, I thought they were used for catching flies. So every day after school I'd unwrap a tampon, take it apart, and try to catch a fly in it. When I finally managed to, I ran down to show my mom. She got a good laugh out of that..

Secondly, around the same age I also found mom's pads. Being the curious kid that I was, I unwrapped a few of those two. I thought that they were a special kind of slippers. I stuck two to the bottoms of my feet, and walked around on them for a long time, before my mom finally noticed, and took them away. Bummer.

Tam

when my mother told me what a period was she told me "when you get older your gonna start peeing blood" so i thought that you were supossed 2 sit on the toilet and actually pee blood for a few seconds and that would be it. then she told me that it can last up to a week so I thought "oh my god, im gonna be sitting on the toilet for a whole week straight? Oh well, at least I can stay home from school"

m1cHy

When I was 5 or so I found a dirty tampon somewhere. I asked an older friend what it was and she replied simply "a tampon". i didnt want to seem stupid so i didnt ask what it was for. I then decided it was for bloody noses and was convinced that you stuck them up your nose when it bled. Imagine my moms suprise when i came up to her with a bloody nose and asked for a tampon.

Bella

In 4th grade, I didn't pay much attention in the "Getting to know your body" class, and it said something about the egg getting caught in the lining of the uterus and becoming pregnant, or so I thought. So I thought you could get pregnant without having sex, and I freaked out. I think I even had my mom convinced for a while, too. I freaked out and tried to stay as straight up and down as I could so the egg wouldn't go to the sides of my uterus.

EmAufder