periods

When I was 12 and started my period, I discovered it when I went to use the restroom. Mom had already had "The Talk" with me, so I knew what it was. However, I didn't know that I would bleed for days and days. I thought you just bled once, and you were done for the month. Oh, how I wish that were true!

i know better now!

while grocery shopping with my mother for an upcomming party, i told her, "we need to get some sanitary napkins in case there is some type of spill". althought i was way too old, i had no idea that "pads" and "sanitary napkins" were the same thing

Patty English

When i was small i thought that you bled all the time when you got your period so i would look at girls buts and stuff and say it dont look like they are wearing pads and they dont look like they are in pain! untill i was 10 then i found out you dont bleed all the time

ROFLANATOR

I saw that boxes of tampons often showed up in our bathroom. I asked her what they were, and she explained that they were for when you got your period and they would soak up the blood. I assumed that periods meant you were peeing out blood, and tampons were a kind of specialized toilet paper that could stop this.

Sheltered Child

I didn't know what pads were for, so I assumed they were like mini diapers, so that you would just wear it all the time and if your bladder was ever nearly bursting, you'd let a bit out so you'd be okay until you had time to go to the bathroom. You can imagine my moms shock when I asked her why pads weren't advertised for boys too.

Lisa

When I was grade 4 my aunt and mom gave me this harness and straps with this huge mattress of a menstrual pad and told me the time was coming when I would have to wear it because grown up blood wouldsoon start coming. I had no idea how it would go on and imagined it went around my thigh. I kept checking my right thigh for the hole opening up I would bleed from.

Danielle

on my first period ithought i just got a cut so i put a bandage on then later my sister explained it to me because there was blood all over her bed

nonny

i used to believe when i was little that the tampon dispensers in the bathrooms were mint/gum dispensers.. i was always mad that my mom wouldn't buy me a roll of mints!

lil girl

When i was little i thought that when my older sister had her period i believed she pooped her pants . I used to take her underwear and go up to her and laugh when she said " thats not poo" i was very confused.

Anon

My friend and i are both 15 and she has a sister one year younger. One day we were with our other two girlfriends and our gay guy friend and we (for some reason I can't remember) were talking about tampons. My friend suddenly starts laughing and when we ask her why she says, "When my sister was really little she walked in on my mom in the bathroom, and ran out coming to ask me if she was going to grow a string like mommy." KLind of gross, but still funny!

sphl

***I used to believe that when you started your period you would just pee blood and then it accured to me, if you just peed blood then why would you need pads.

C H R I S T E N

When me and my best friend first started our periods niether of us used tampons (my mom was scared i would lose my virginty if i did lol).

My friend was the first to use one cuz she got her period on vacation and afterward she was telling me about it. She said at first she started putting it in the wrong hole and i was shocked cuz i thought there was only one hole down there! i was about 12.

Anon

When I was about 7, before I knew what a period was, I was at my friend's house and she tried to explain what it was. Well, turns out she wasn't so good at it. She told me that if my mom had pads or tampons under the sink, she was never gonna have a baby again. My mom was pregnant at the time and I was really scared that the baby would die. When I heard the news that my mom was in labor, I was a wreck. The worst hours of my life ended when we got the phone call that I had a new little brother. I still have my friend to thank for that little scare!

Anon

I thought when I started my period it was one day out of the month. Not a week. Three days went bye and I told my mom theres something wrong with me, I need to go see a doctor, Im bleeding to death.

alice

I used to believe that if you had a period then you had an awful internal disease, and would have to be rushed to hospital where a nurse would put a thing called a pad up your butt and a pamton in your knickers. I know better now and don't get the names mixed up anymore.

Amaryllis

When i was in 4th grade, i went to the bathroom, i opened one of the stalls (u know how u check to see is the toilet is empty and stuff) and i saw blood in the toilet!!!! i though that it was from someone bleeding and dying, so i ran to my classroom and went right up to my female teacher and said "THERE'S BLOOD IN THE POTTY!!"(i though i had saved the day) this happened to me a few times and whenever i told her she'd just be like, okay. i would always be so mad at her for not making a big deal

lee

I used to think that pads were for peeing, thats why my mother never went as regularly as me and my dad.

kickapoo

I used to think that girls became anorexic whilst having their periods because they were too nauseated to eat anything, since loss of periods is one of the symptoms.

Anon

Well my sister was talking to me about Pads,and Tampons! So I knew what a Pad was because she opened one up for me! But I did not know what they were for so she talked to me about Periods and I was only 8 at the time and I still did not get it so Then she showed my a tampon which she4 use's and at first I said were does this go and she told me but I thoght she meant butt so when I got my Period I was Sooo embrassed that I put it in the wrong place!!

HDB

When I was extremely little I saw my mother once changing her sanitary towel and I thought it was a special piece of pre-wrapped paper for women to wipe their bottoms on. I was a very femeinist jid, you see. So after htat I started wiping my botton with her towels and she started wondering where they all went. I’m thirteen now and I realise how wasteful I was.

Lisa Pow