Menstruation

My DGD started her periods when she was 11. My DD had spoken to her about it and prepared her, giving her a couple of packs of towels to keep until needed.
One day she asked her mum for more towels as she was running low! She had had her period for a couple of months, been flushing the towels ? and hadn't told her mum. When asked why, she said that she didn't think she needed to!!!
DD put her right on how to properly dispose of the used towels. ?

I was aware but I did not realise it was happening quite so young. I also thought it was fairly uncommon at junior school but times have changed and not necessarily for the better.

9 is quite "normal" these days.

I had heard of instances of 9 yr olds menstruating but it seems awfully young. My GD is 14 and no sign yet but most of her friends have had periods for a while.

I was 11 when I started.
DD was at school with a girl who had periods at 7-8 I believe there is a name for it.

When I was teaching I knew of several girls aged 9, 10, 11 who had started their periods in primary school. They were usually quite big girls for their age. That was around 2006/7 if I remember correctly though there were one or two I recall before that.

My DD had only just turned 10 when hers started. Her daughter, my DGD is nearly 11, and hers started last month. She seemed to cope very well with it all, especially when she had only just gone back to school after the summer holidays.

Oh yes. 10 years ago when I was teaching we had one or two girls in year 5 who had their periods. My eldest GD was 11, and her sister, not yet 10 is showing signs of puberty. They take it in their stride though. No fuss at all

My neighbours daughter started her periods when she was 9. She is now mid 40's
I think it did seem unusual then, but she coped alright according to her mum.

I started my period in 1964 at 11, more unusual then. My youngest daughter started hers 2 days before her 11th birthday but my older daughter was 12. Grandaughters will be 10 in May and are showing other signs of puberty, breast budding and tiny amounts of pubic hair but no periods yet, although I don’t think it will be long. One of them is very skinny her sister more rounded shape. I think weight had something to do with it so wonder what will happen if one starts much earlier than the other

Children do seem to be maturing physically earlier these days but back in the 1950s my twin sister started her periods before me, when we were 11. I was very jealous!

GS, who is a big lad, started to sprout pubic hair when he was 8. He was very proud of it and offered to show me

Some of DD's friends were just nine which I thought was a shame, still young children really. DD was twelve which surprised me as I was sixteen but underweight for my age.
I have been wondering about one of GDs because she is only nine but is tall and heavy, more like a fourteen year old.

I am involved with a primary school and we have a separate toilet for the KS2 girls. Loads of them start before they leave.

My DGD started at 12 and her life has been a misery since - sadly she has made very heavy weather of them, and the hormonal changes have triggered depression and anxiety. She is in a sorry state.

I’m glad you brought up the issue of toilets - the case for sex segregated toilets in primary schools is particularly strong for this reason if no other. I also wonder how primary school boys should be prepared for this as well so they are accepting of it and don’t tease girls or make comments.

I think weight does come into it. I seem to recall that a girl had to reach approx 7 stone before her periods would start, but I could be wrong.

Whoever decided that unisex toilets at schools would be a good idea (apparently to prevent bullying and vandalism) has made life horrible for girls, according to news online this morning, because boys are now working out that girls must be having their period if they take a long time in the cubicle, and then passing the word round!!! So girls are "holding on" rather than using the toilet during the school day due to humiliation and embarrassment.

I was lucky enough to get into an all girls' grammar so when having to cope with periods and puberty, I didn't have to cope with boys as well. I feel very sorry for teenage girls being forced to deal with these problems.

Yes I know of a few primary aged girls - a couple at 9 but a few more 10 and 11. Mainly they have developed early so have other signs of puberty too. They say weight has something to do with triggering puberty but I am not sure how true that is. DGD is almost 11 and one of the smallest of her friends. I'd be very surprised if she got hers any time soon, though others in her class already need bras etc so are more likely I guess

I used to teach Y6 and certainly a few of the girls had started. I remember one starting on the first day of a school residential holiday!

If they are well padded they seem to start a bit earlier.

My lovely gds started their periods at 12 and 13, coping
really well thanks to a very sensible mum. However not
coping at all well with recently introduced unisex toilets,
its turned into some boys being real idiots over what is a very private matter for the girls ☹️

I think it's hardly surprising, everything is happening earlier these days. I started my periods at 11 in 1965 and that was normal, I was prepared for it and it was no big deal. I certainly wasn't big for my age, quite the opposite if anything. I don't understand all the "she's coping with it" comments, of course she is because it's normal and the more normal she thinks it is the better.

It has always been a possibility. I used to take junior schoolchildren on residential trips and we always had to be aware that some girls might be menstruating and deal with it appropriately.

There is probably a genetic element to it. My daughters were the same age as I and my mother were. Granddaughter was slightly older - the influence of genes from the other grandmother perhaps?

Re coping with it comment, my elder gd is autistic with all
that entails, and younger gd had been terrified of the sight
of blood, so yes they are coping well.

I started age 10 and a half in 1969, my eldest daughter was just 11, while my younger one (who was taller/larger boned didn't start till she was 13). My mother born in 1920 also started at 10 and a half. I certainly wasn't the only one but it was certainly very difficult to deal with. I have heard that they need to reach a certain weight before periods can start but other body changes (body hair, changing shape) normally start first so there are some warning signs. I think there is a strong genetic factor in the likelihood of menstruation being early.

I was 15yo when I started my periods (1965) and much later than my classmates. Some years later, my children’s school headteacher said that children had matured by 1yr for every 10yrs after the end of WW2.
This meant what I did at 15yrs old, my children would do at 13yo.
Looks like the HT was right.