Tween First Period and how to break the ice

I don't know about your kids but my teen daughters are always finding fun ways to break the ice when meeting new people or when in with an awkward crowd. They are always coming up with some good ones. I've never been one to come up with a good line. How about you?

What got me thinking of this? I've had several friends ask me how I "broke the ice" and started discussing the first period talk with my daughters.  My husband and I had been preparing them for years for the talk (check here for my post where I mentioned the books we used-Learning About Sex series.) I knew that their body changes would signal when I would need to start discussing the actual first period.  Guess what? Even though I knew the facts, I went into momma panic mode after the twins turned 10 years old. They were headed, alone, to a summer camp. It was only 1 week long but it was 2 hours away.  For some reason I went in an all out panic momma mode and decided that I needed to have the talk the night before they left.

Why did I panic? I started my first period when I was 10 and just knew that was when they would start. I knew that they had some physical body changes but my panic momma mode didn't let me see that they would not be starting that first period anytime soon, especially within the next week. Do you know what physical changes their body will have before starting? Check here for wonderful tips on preparing for the talk and click on facts about puberty.

My point is for you to educate yourself on puberty changes, read everything available to you and don't go in an all out momma panic mode. You only panic when stressed and I was stressed about them leaving. Don't let stress ruin everything that you have been preparing for. My ice breaker was, "ok girls you are going away for a week and I want to tell you about something that might happen while you are gone." glup. Don't do that. Really, I did that!! The twins told me years later that I freaked them out. They didn't even start for another 3 years. Over those next few years, we had many talks to help them be prepared and not scared.

I don't think that there has to be any formal break the ice plan. If you haven't started talking to your daughters and you don't know where to start, I suggest checking out The Kotex site for tweens. This site will prepare you for any up and coming talks. Check out the link above for the facts about puberty. It really is one of the most helpful things on the site that I used for my youngest daughter. The other site to check out is U by Kotex for more detailed changes for tweens and teens. I do suggest you checking out both sites before sending your daughter there.

I am a U by KotexTween Ambassador and have written several post on this topic. Check out my other post, HERE!

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