I’ve mentioned afew other places about my Valerie. she’ll be 14 next month and has been on her cycles now for about 2 years. With her, I began as she developed in other areas to tell her she was growing up into a big girl like mommy–and to allow her in the restroom with me on ”those days” as well as regular days. I told her that the bleeding was ok–not a ”boo boo” but part of being a grown up girl and part of being a mommy. I told her one day she would have bleeding periods too. Once they came, she was a little upset, until as others have mentioned I told her she was ok and we could fix it–and helped her with pads ”like mommy wears. I usually prefer tampons, but for this time period, I wore pads for the heavier days as part of my opportunities to teach her.Like most kids, girls with Down’s tend to follow the ’family pattern” as to when they start–maybe a little later– I was 11, she was 12. Now we also really stress being covered up in front of boys, privacy in the bathroom–she actually ramped up the privacy issue on her own as she developed–I think part of the normal shyness most teens develop. we talk about no one touches our private areas except mommy to make sure we are ok–and the doctor with mommy there–to make sure she’s ok. we also talk about ”we do not touch other people’s private areas ever.” She loves babies so much– i do avoid saying ”now you can have a baby”–because then she’d be trying to figure out how to get one.–pregnancy is in the water at our church–so she’s seen numerous pregnant ladies and already knows the babies ’grow in the mommy’s tummy!!”
