Just before I hit puberty we had a talk at school about periods and they gave us free sanitary pads. I took them home and my mum asked me if I knew how to use them and I said of course I do. You take two and put them on either leg...I obviously hadn't understood what they were saying in the talk.

Anon

One time when i was little, i saw a tampon machine at a rest-area bathroom. I used to believe that a tampon machine was an adult candy machine with candy bars that only adults eat [that explains the plain-looking wrappers]. So one day i brought a quarter in to the bathroom with me, so i could try this "adult candy" and look mature eating it. I put in the quarter and out came the "candy bar." I opened it up and remebered seeing one in the trashcan in one of the stalls, and i thought "I guess cherry isn't a very good flavor!" XD
So, i took it in the car with me and showed it to my sister [who was the same age]. I told her what it was, and we thought it didn't really look very tasty ... but my sis said it could be cotton candy! So i tried to bite it, and that's when my mom came in. Hehe ...

-^.^-

A little disgusting, but...

When I was about 8, my mother had just recently given me the good old puberty education, including the joys of having my very own period. One of the things I learned is that girls had periods so that they could pass their unfertilized eggs out of their bodies. Well, one day, I took a shower and she went to the bathroom, so she didn't flush (poor plumbing, thus I would have been burned by scalding hot water). When I got out to dry, I peeked in the toilet and saw it was red inside - plus there was this really big dark thing! For days, I was in a panic about having my period, because I didn't want to pass that HUGE thing through you know where!

... then I realized it was poo I had seen, and not some huge unfertilized egg. I was so relieved to learn that the eggs were microscopic...

Sorry Mom :)

After the horrifying conversation and book-readings that explained getting your period, I became paranoid until I started at age 12. When I started, I was staying with my father for the weekend, and had to call my mom on the phone to tell her. She then instructed my father to go buy me some pads. Dad, not knowing any better, bought pantyliners (those lil' flimsy things), which did okay on the first occasion, as I didn't bleed much. Problem was, pads and tampons had been explained to me, but nobody had explained that you could STOP using them after you were done for the months. So I wore the stupid pantyliners for a month solid! I then informed my mother that I needed more. At which point, she told me that I didn't need to wear them for eternity, just when I needed them. (Big Relief!) However, having only seen the panyliners (mom used tampons, no pads), I was HORRIFIED when she bought me the real deal pads and they were, naturally, much larger.

Amy

My 10 year old brother once confronted me and threatened to go to mum and dad to tell on me.....?
He had found a tampax in my tent when we were camping one time and although he didn't know what it was he was certain it was for grown-ups only and I was in deep trouble!

Yvonne Welling

Up until I was 9, and taught better, I thought a sanitary pad was for office women who were too busy to go to the toilet so they just peed into their pads, yes, like a nappy.
Imagine my amazement when I found out what a tampon did. I didn't even know I had a hole there. I used to pull the string on tampons, thinking it would turn into a mini umbrella like those in cocktail drinks.

Nerida

when i had sex-ed in elementary school, the nurse explained what a period was and showed us pictures. i guess i didn't see too well, because i was so confused. even though i was really shy, i went up to her after class and asked about it, but still didn't get it. i thought a period was a red dot that you got somewhere on your body...like chicken pox.

Anon

When I was younger, I got the whole facts of life talk off of my mother along with a side lecture on PMS. I didn't quite understand what she meant and was completely convinced that whenever my mum was annoyed with me or my brother, it was the "time of the month."

I distinctively remember a time when my mum told me off in front of a group of family friends and I turned round and announced in front of all of them, "It's ok, it's just the time of the month." Oops.

Sara

This is more my mom's than mine. Once her mother asked her to go to the store to buy napkins, and she went to the back of the store and picked up sanitary pads (this was before she knew what a period was, and it wasn't talked about much). The cashier asked her if she wanted a bag and she was confused as to why. So she walked all the way home with a package of pads, and her mom sent her back to the store, and the cashier just laughed.

She's embarrassed about it to this day.

Diane