I just had a wonderful opportunity (thanks to the lovely ladies at modernmom.com) to share this wonderful product with my friends who also have daughters!
If you're a girl, you know getting your first period isn't the funnest experience... And if you're a parent, you know that its hard to find the words to talk to your own daughter about it. Girls are getting their periods younger and younger these days and I can only imagine the experience is scarier and more uncomfortable the younger you get. Kotex has created a product just for tweens "sized just right." U by Kotex Tween products are smaller, have colorful designs and are just all around awesome. The combo packages that we received came with 12 pads and 12 liners.
The pads have wings (a big need for young girls for the additional protection) and are "extra absorbent", promising to absorb like Kotex heavy flow pads. They're also shorter and narrower to better fit young girls' bodies. Both the pads and the panty liners have bright multi-colored wrappers and featured cute prints on the pad themselves. The glittery package features reassuring messages, tween-friendly myths and facts, and an information booklet on the inside. U by Kotex Tween has really thought this through and made a tween friendly product that confronts your period with style and fun.
I honestly wish they would have made products like this when I started my period. Back then, you didn't have very many options. As a smaller girl, I felt like I was wearing a diaper that wrapped from my belly button to my spine xD
These products makes the whole "process" of having your first period seem more glamorous and fun. And definitely less scary.
They also have a website which you can check out that has lots of resources
(helpful interactive calendar, video, advice, etc) and information for YOUR talk and advice about puberty. And here's some helpful information that I pulled from the Kotex website:
I got to host a small get-together with 5 of my closest friends that also have tween daughters and are unsure of how to handle the TALK. Our products came in lovely black gift back with a pretty pink tissue paper. There was a packet with information in each bag with tips and advice on how to approach the subject, as well as a Q&A pack to help answer any questions your daughter might have. I also purchased several things that would come in handy, such as: notepads, pens, and extra U by Kotex Tween products.
Lucky for us, our daughters all got invited to the same birthday party, so we got to talk freely. As we sat down with our coffee and our Harry & David cookies, we discussed first period stories (horror or not). My favorite story belonged to a friend (April) who's niece just had her first period a few years back WITHOUT the talk. Seems she was 11 years old and her mum thought she still had lots of time before she had to talk to her about it.
Not knowing what to expect, the poor girl had been hysterical. When her mother came into the bathroom and saw what the problem was, she gave the girl a pad and explained to her what it was for. The girl shakily opened the pad, and promptly burst into tears over the "Have a happy period, Always" slogan that was printed. (That would probably make me cry too, jus' sayin'.)
None of us are very confident in our abilities to have this discussion, but we've all had bad experiences, so we knew what NOT to do. We grabbed our notepads and pens, and we got to work making lists. Our first list was positive ways to start the conversation with our daughters. Our second list was a "what to do" and "what NOT to do" list for our daughters including tips that we've learned ourselves. Like "not wearing white pants close to school close to your period" and "always keep products handy in your purse, just in case".
As we put these special lists in our gift bags, it occurred to us that they seemed mighty empty. Emptiness is not a very good way to celebrate womanhood, so we went shopping! ^_^
We loaded up in my Suzuki, and headed to Wal-mart to get goodies that would help our daughters through this rough time. Our purchases included small bottles of Excedrin, Midol, cute make-up bag for our daughter's purse/bookbag, deodorant, lip gloss (we all love to be pretty), wet wipes, new underwear, little heating pads, nail polish, small diaries, and of course Lindt chocolates among other things. We then proceeded to head to a small local store to pick up low-cost tiaras, and pocket calendars.
We put together "emergency" kits with the make-up bags for our girls to take with them. Each one had pads and liners, lip gloss, a little disposable heating pad, the Midol and Excedrin, wet wipes, and a spare pair of underwear. We arranged all the stuff we bought in our bags, then we printed out helpful informational sheets and pamphlets, tied them with a ribbon and put them in the bags as well. We're calling our bags the "Welcome to Womanhood Bags".
We finished up by discussing exactly what to tell our daughters. Do we just have the period talk? Do we have the sex talk at the same time? Do we have the sex talk first? Do we tie them down and talk to them whether they like it or not? By the time we finished discussing, arguing, and list making, we all felt confident that we could talk to our daughters about their period without traumatizing them xD
Check out my bag and the lovely cookies (which I forgot to take a picture of xD)!
****I would like to take a moment to thank the ladies at ModernMom.com and Kotex for this wonderful opportunity. I'm sure I wouldn't have done so well talking to my daughter, or had as much fun planning the talk without the resources they've provided. Thank you so much! ****
**Disclaimer: Products were provided by Modernmom.com and Kotex.
I did not receive any monetary compensation and all opinions in this blog are mine and mine alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment