When I was about ten, people were always talking about how fast I was growing up. Around Christmas, I was looking at all the wrapped presents, trying to figure out what they were. One was slightly round, about 6x3 inches, and I knew exactly what it was. It couldn't be anything else, I decided. It was a tampon.
I wasn't sure what a tampon was, but I knew it was part of growing up. I stressed about it for days, trying to figure out what to tell my parents. What if they didn't know what a tampon was? What would I tell them?
Finally, Christmas morning came, and I put off opening that gift for as long as possible. I finally got up the nerve to open it, and... it was a bottle of shampoo.

Who gives tampons as Christmas gifts, anyway?

When I got my period for the first time my aunt told me that during my period if I sat next to any boys I would get pregnant! I refused to sit next to my uncle,cousins,dad,brother for the longest time!!!!!

Penn State 02

I used to belive that sanitary napkins are used by girls coz they have no control over their pee.....

raj

when i was about 5 or 6, a friend and i used to draw litle faces and ears on tampons and pretend they were mice. I could never understand why her mum wouldnt let me take my little rodents friends home with me, and was filled with disgust when my friend whispered that it was because after i left, her mum was goin to "stick them up her minge.."

Nicky

This is about my friend. In primary school my friend found a sanitary towel on the floor. He thought it was an eye pad and ran around the school with this on his eyes!

Anon

One day I asked my mum what tampons were for. She told me that it was to catch a seed that ladies produced once a month. I thought that at 'that time of the month' you had to stand there holding the tampon, waiting for the seed to pop out and catch it!

rubberduck

when i was little i found my mom's pads in her bathroom and i thought they were diapers...I thought how cool!! and then one day when we were about to go on a long ride in the car i thought what a perfect oppurtunity to ask my mom to use one. when i asked her she was like what the heck are you talking about? to this day i never snoop around in her bathroom

i//was//stupid//

when i was about 6 or so my mom told me that maxi pads were for belly aches one day she came home from work and i was laying in bed with a maxi pad on my stomach because i dident feal so good.

kenny

A high school friend - a guy - thought that when girls had their periods, they just had to go sit on the toilet for about ten minutes until the bleeding was all done, then the period was over. At the time, he was 16 and he had a sister...yet this was his belief.

Brooke

When I first got my period, my friend and I were talking about this new experience. We thought that you were fertile during your period, and only then. We wondered, "Why would anybody ever want to have sex? Wouldn't it be messy? What man would ever like that?"

Anon

When my mother first told me about periods (I was maybe five or six) she said, "You first start your period around eleven or twelve. You go through menopause in your 40's." I took this to mean that once you started your period you had one, continuously, until you reached menopause. I was very suprised when my first period stopped (I even went so far as to ask her if anything was wrong with me). My mother says she was shocked to discover I not only had I developed this odd idea, but that I hadn't been upset about it at all! I just figured, since my mom told me it was natural, I'd just go with the flow (no pun intended).

Anon

My male friend believed, until about 2 months ago, that you would insert a tampon, then pull the string so it opened up like an umbrella inside you. I suppose it is kind of logical in a way, but it didn't stop everyone laughing for about 10 minutes! We still tease him now......

english girl

One day as my daughter, 3 years old, and I were shopping, we ended up on the "feminine hygiene" isle. As we passed the sanitary napkins, my daughter blurted, "Look at those BIG band-aids, mom!" It was so cute I had to laugh!!

so cute

My mom told me that pads were for when women laughed too hard and wet their pants. I then took one and tried to put it on just in case.

Anon

When I was younger, maybe six or seven, a group of my friends and I did tennis together. We were putting on our tennis skirts in the locker room when someone noticed two little baskets, one for tampons and one for pads. We noticed the sticky on the pads and we stuck them in our shirt sleeves, to make "grown up shoulders." We also stuck them on our stomachs and legs. Finally, we put one on our panties. We thought they were stickies that helped you not get hurt. We were going to go out to tennis (with the stickies on)when my friend got stuck in a locker! (do not ask me how this happened) and we had to call the male tennis coach to help her out, adding to the embarrassment.

Lauren

when i was 11, i used to think that a period was when a man stuck his penis into a girls vagina and blood spurted out. imagine my surprise when, as i was watching the sex video, they told me i would soon get my period!!

rita

I used to think that women couldn't control the flow of their periods only because they never tried. I was convinced that when I got my periods I would 'hold in' the blood until I peed, then I wouldn't have to worry about spots or leaks or any of that. I still wish it could work that way :)

anon

my mom told me i would know when i got my period because there would be blood. So I actually had been having my period for about three months and didn't know it because i thought my pee would turn red. I went to the doctor that month because i kept getting a bellyache. He told me i was having my period, and i told him no because my pee was still yellow!

Anon

When I was younger, for some reason I believed pads were to cut vaginas and thats why there was always blood on the pad. I thought women needed their vaginas cut so they could stay healthy and so they used pads to 'cut' their vaginas. I was horrified, and I remember my cousin getting her mother's pads and saying, "Someday we're gonna have to use these."
I'd always ask my mother if it hurt. She would respond, "Sometimes," so that added on to that belief.
Come on, people, I was like, 5 years old!! :-P

Clauds.

In the 5th grade, we all knew we were going to have the "sex ed" and we would talk about what it was about. One girl said she knew all about it, and that we girls had to save our blood from our periods for the baby. That's why we needed sanitary napkins.

Linda from Southern California