Five Basic Things To Tell Your Son About Periods!
A lot and more has been said about teaching little girls about menstruation, hygiene, and social taboos associated with it and such, but seldom do we talk about how to enlighten our little boys on this topic. Don’t you think it is as important for us to teach our sons in a very healthy way about the concept of menstruation? Isn’t that also one of the most important steps towards eradicating the social taboos that still exist in our society regarding menstruation?
As a mother of a baby boy who is only one-and-a-half years old right now, I do believe my son should learn about it before he reaches his teenage years – about these important points regarding periods. Let these points be well taught to our little boys before they learn about them from the vast sources of information available online, some of which may even be misleading to their little minds. As mothers, let us do our part to enlighten our little boys.
“Every boy grows up to be a Man, but it’s a mother who could help him to be a Gentleman!”
- The Biological Lessons First:
Before your little one reaches ‘the’ age, when the girls of his age start getting their first periods, one needs to give them basic guidance on the biological process involved with menstruation. We don’t really need to go deep into details during this stage. We just need to provide them with a little basic information for starters and later on, as he grows up, one may go into details as per his and your respective comfort levels.
- It’s Divine, Not Yucky!
As your little one learns about menstruation and its associated processes, it is quite natural for them to develop an aversion towards it, as it involves blood and hygiene and so on and so forth. Let him know then, that there are hygienic methods involved in addressing it and that it is not a sin. In fact, it is nature’s little secret that keeps life on this planet going and thriving.
- Those Pads are not for Ink!
I remember one of my relatives used to tell her son that those advertisements of sanitary napkins that they showed on televisions were for absorbing the excess ink from fountain pens! Maybe some genius that made the first advertisement of sanitary pads had this idea and everyone to this day still sacredly follows suit in demonstrating the ink absorbent theory! I believe we shouldn’t tell our kids that kind of a lie. Maybe they are too young to know. Maybe we could tell them something like, “Mommy will tell you about it in detail when you grow up. For now it’s something that is used by big girls.”Telling them such a lie especially during these modern times is not a solution at all. And who knows, with the advent of so much accessible technology, they might already have basic information about it and they would straight away know that mommy is telling a lie.
- The Legendary Mood Swings:
Let him know thatduringthese days, his sister, friend, future wife or his daughter would be going through their mood swings due to hormones and don’t forget to tell him of the physical pain involved. Teach him to help or console them or at least to leave them alone.
- Oh,The Pain!:
Just like mood swings; you need to tell them how much of a painful experience it could be for some girls. They need to understand why their girlfriend is not ready to play around or have fun with them when she is just not in the mood for it.
By only educating our daughters about menstruation, we will not solve the problem of menstrualtaboos in this society. We need to educate our sons too, for a better period-friendly society and a better life for the women of tomorrow!
Author: Bilna Sandeep
Bilna is a Civil Engineer by profession who is currently on a career break to enjoy the joys of motherhood with her one-and-a-half year old naughty little boy. During her free time, she loves to write, blog and speak up for the causes she cares for. You can read more of her articles here.
Editor: Divya Rosaline
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