My friend who first got her period was in 4th grade. One day in the lunch line she told me that her mom told her that she got her peroid. I thought that her mom went out and bought her this thing. So I went home, and asked my mom if she would buy me a period.

Anon

Unlike myself woth my own children, my mother was very coy about explaining anything period related. I remember her unpacking the shopping one day and spotting a pack of sannies. I asked her what they were, she didnt answer so I asked her if they were disposable nappes, (similar sized packet in the early '80s),she said they were. This I had to think about as my younger brother was well out of nappies and had only ever used disposables on holiday anyway. So I decided that the only person who could be wearing the nappies was my dad. I asked my mum and again she agreed, (my dad has always been the butt of the jokes on my family), and naturally, as a trusting and innocent 7-year-old, I believed her.

Next day I went in to school and stood up at 'news time' and announced to the claas that my mum was putting my dad back in nappies.

Fruitpuree

One day my mom had her period (I was about 5) and didn't want to flush and wake us up. Well, I went to use the toilet and started screaming. I thought someone was dying, I had never seen that much blood before. Needless to say (we lived in a duplex) our neighbors wern't happy at 2:00 in the morning.

MeGaN C.

I would have been about 6 years of age the first time i saw my mother wearing a pad. I could see the bulkiness and outline through her granny panties, and a diaper pin stuck through near the top of her panties. Because my mom used cloth diapers on us, i believed that she was wearing a real babies diaper and i proceeded to ask her why she wasn't wearing rubber pants. I just remember how she laughed and explained to me that they weren't diapers.

Diane J.

This the kind of story I could always visualize Joan Rivers telling but this really happened to me.

My mother had never explained anything about sex to me and when I was twelve years old I had to go into the hospital to have my tonsils removed. While under anesthetic my period started and when I came to, I was a bloodly mess.
I thought that either the doctor didn't know where my tonsils were located - or
obviously, I didn't.

To this day I still have more than the usual, terrible fear of surgery.

Jeanie

When I was about 12, I believed that boys had periods too. I read in a Child
Craft book about boys and masturbation.
I thought that girls periods was called Menstruation; and they called what the boys had masturbation.
I told all my friends this. I was so embarrassed

Melanie

When I was little, I heard some kind of commercial that mentioned a "menstrual cycle". I got very excited, because I thought it was some kind of bicycle. Like, first you ride a tricycle, then training wheels, then a two wheeler, then a menstrual cycle. I soon learned the truth when I asked my dad for a "menstrual cycle" for my birthday at age 9.

Lara

I thought that when you bled at all, that was your period. So when I got a paper cut on a Saturday (I must have been about 4, now I am 16, while my only brother David had to be 10, now 22) I saw the trickle of blood and yelled "I HAD MY PERIOD!" Of course, my whole family came running. Among them was David. I also thought as soon as you menustrated you immediately had sex. So, I yelled " Now David and I gotta have sex!" And he yelped as I yanked his arm. My mom explained it all to me that night. I was amazed.

Anon

I was over a friend house once, and her moms boyfriend was spending a long time in the bathroom. My friend then told me that she thought he had his comma. In her mind, if a woman got a period, and man would get a comma.

Diane

My mom had to go across the road to our recently divorced neighbour to explain to him that sanitory towels with wings he was using weren't for cleaning windows

Beth (aged 18)

when i was in the 5th grade, i got my first period, my mom hadnt yet talked to me about that so i didnt know that only girs got periods, i didnt have a pad or tampon of corse so i just walked up to a guy friend of mine and asked him for a pad.

confused

When I was 5 or 6, I thought that my Mom's 'panty liners' were meant to be stuck on her hips, in order to cushion against the effect of the elastic in the waste band rubbing against and iritating her skin.

Matthew - Toronto

When I was about eight i found a tampon in my mothers purse, i was confused on what it was and took it, about two weeks after that I got a bloody nose...using all common sense i had(which wasnt much) i took the tampon and shoved it up my nose to stop the bleeding. I left it in there for several hours until my father got home and saw me on the couch, lying there with a tampon in my nose. He still laughs with my mom about it to this day!

Nose Picker

I used to chat to my little brother about what to expect when he got his first period. I actually had him worried for awhile that he hadn't begun menstruating yet we he was about 10. My mom wasn't pleased. Best prank I ever pulled on him, though.

Anon

when i was little i was discovering the bathroom when i came accross a box which said "tampax" i wondered what they were, so i ran down stairs and asked my mum, cos mums know everything and never lie, she said its for when people have nose bleeds, well next time i had a nose bleed i ran upstairs a shoved the whole thing (applicator and all) straight up my nose then went and told my whole family who were downstairs eating dinner!

Martin

I saw a commercial for tampons when I was little, and it was a mysterious thing to me. I asked my mother what all of it meant and she simply replied, "You'll find out when you're older, when you become a young woman." I remembered the package in the commercial and saw it in my mother's bedroom one day. I opened it and saw the wrapped up tampons. I was utterly mystified. My cousin was having her 14th birthday around that time and I overheard my mother saying, "Kelly is turning into a beautiful young woman" I decided to make her a card and thought the best thing to draw on the card were those little tampons I had seen. I drew them all over the card. When the birthday rolled around and she opened my card, she looked very confused. I had written "You're a woman now!" on the card, surrounded by flying tampons. It was a very very embarassing day and I didn't understand why everyone thought I was rude.

Easily Amused

This isn't really mine, but one day i was running around in the park babysitting a kid when suddenly, a tampon flew out of my purse. I was immensely embarrassed as she unwrapped it, looked stunned and yelled, "Juliet, why do you carry dynomite in your purse???!!!!"

i cracked up so hard i forgot to be embarrassed.

Juliet

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

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

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