Explaining Menstruation to daughters used to be a horrible task for mothers 20 years back. In
most cases, mothers used to explain it to
their daughter when they had already seen this bloody show for the first time
in their lives. I understand, this is a serious topic and every mother should
take responsibility of explaining periods to her daughter well before so that
she can prepare herself for it.
When I first saw the topic #PeriodPride , one of my
childhood memories, which is around periods only and is extremely funny, suddenly knocked me. My Buaji (my father’s sister) is
married in a big, 25 members, joint family. This funny incidence happened with
my Buaji’s elder daughter Bittu (my cousin). My Buaji has always been very new
age and informed lady. So when her daughter (Bittu) crossed her 11th birthday,
she thought to explain periods to her. On one Saturday, after dinner, she took
Bittu along and went on the terrace for talking to her about this ‘secret’
matter. That was the time (nineties
era)when puberty used to be an unknown word for pre-teen girls. So, Buaji told her daughter that when girls enter to
their teenage, their body change and prepare itself for future. For this, every
month or so, one of the ovaries releases impure blood through vaginal passes.
In a proper way, she told her daughter how to use sanitary pads and the
importance of changing them. However, that was the era when no one used to talk
openly about periods so my Buaji also made sure to tell her daughter that this
information should be kept secret. So far so good. She thought she had
explained everything.
Next day was Sunday so all the kids of my Buaji’s family were
home. My cousin, Bittu, was in real jolt after listening all this from her mother. And due to this awkward topic, she couldn’t
express her situation in front of her mother. But you know, same age kids are
always best friends and best friends never hide anything. So Bittu explained
everything which she understood from her mother to one of her cousin brothers.
She said to him that this would happen to you as well as this is a mandatory
process of getting young. She told him to be aware of any blood stain in his
underpants, exactly as her mother told her. Now Bittu’s brother was also
scared. For releasing his uneasiness, he passed this information to any other
kid of his family. And this chain of passing information about periods finally
reached to each of the kids of the family.
Youngest boy among them was not
able to keep it secret (as was told by his brothers and sisters) so he
questioned his mother why blood would come from my body when I would become a
big boy? His mother was shocked after listening to his question. With so much
anxiety she asked the boy who told him this. And then a backtracking started
from last kid who heard this period story to Bittu who initiated this thread.
When asked why she shared everything with her cousin, Bittu replied that she forgot that this was an only girl thing and
didn’t apply for her cousin!
All the ladies in my Buaji’s family were laughing madly over
Bittu’s silliness and innocence at the same time. She cared for her cousins so
she played the role of a responsible sister and passed this information to her
brothers and sisters. When my Buaji told this story to us (my family), there was a burst of
laughter. How a serious matter become much talked about affair in her family.
But good things is, directly or indirectly, all the kids of my Buaji’s family
came to know about a human body’s fact. They all knew how nature has created
all this so that a girl's body become physically capable of getting pregnant.
How ovulation happens and how the lining of the uterus is shed through the
vagina. The changes associated with puberty can be a little scary but Bittu
made it an easy discussion after letting every of her cousins know about it. Since that day, talking periods was no more a taboo in her family!
“This blogathon is supported by the Maya App, used by 6.5 million women worldwide to take charge of their periods and health.”
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