By Anonymous - 08/08/2015 02:16 - United States - Dayton

Today, I found my daughter sobbing and trying to stick a wad of gauze to her vagina. She was having her first period. FML
I agree, your life sucks 26 343
You deserved it 11 362

Same thing different taste

Top comments

um, maybe you shouldve taught her about her about her body?

**** your daughters life. I'm a guy and I can't imagine bleeding out in my genital area and not knowing what the ***** going on just imagine all the things that could be going through her head. I'd do more than cry. You should have taught her about periods atleast. I can't blame you though because she might still be young and you couldn't have known that it would come so soon

Comments

um, maybe you shouldve taught her about her about her body?

**** your daughters life. I'm a guy and I can't imagine bleeding out in my genital area and not knowing what the ***** going on just imagine all the things that could be going through her head. I'd do more than cry. You should have taught her about periods atleast. I can't blame you though because she might still be young and you couldn't have known that it would come so soon

I agree I had to reread several times

Maybe op taught her about it, but she just panicked.

right?! total YDI what kind of mother doesn't teach her daughter about this?

52: My mom didn't. When my first one came, I thought something was seriously wrong and that I was going to die because of all of the blood. I ruined at least 2 pairs of underwear that night.

Ya, OP, YDI. As for your daughter, FHL.

But why is everyone assuming OP didn't educate her daughter? Like there's no chance her daughter couldn't find mums pads (or mom doesn't use pads) and was looking trying some DIY period crafts!!

Maybe OP did and the daughter couldn't find pads and tampons and was too embarrassed to tell her parents. So she probably freaked out and tried to use gauze as a tampon and I imagine it would hurt to shove gauze up there just like it does when you try tampons for the first time which would explain why she was crying. I luckily grew up with 3 sisters so we always had pads and tampons so I found them on my first period but I didn't tell my mom until she asked me a couple months after my first one because I was embarrassed. I think this FML is worthy for both the parent (I assume OP is a women but not sure) and the daughter. It would be embarrassing for both parties to have walked in on that and to be the one that was walked in on.

If she is your average fundamentalist Christian, it wouldn't surprise me at all. My aunt is a fundamentalist, didn't tell her daughters about periods, and she payed for it equally as much.

cynthianicole95 9

Even as a first time tampons shouldn't hurt.

My mom didn't teach me either. I had sex Ed in school and it taught me about it but she didn't get me anything except I knew where the pads were. I wasn't expecting the pain which for me would be a week before and the whole week of. We saw my Dr for it cuz it makes me anemic so I was put on birth control at 13 to control it. Best thing ever! I could function lol.

No they shouldn't. If they do it's either being inserted wrong or they're too big.

Also, OP said she was trying to stick guaze to the area, as in tape it over the top like it's a wound, not stick it up there. That definitely would hurt! And I think you'd stop pretty quickly once you'd started attempting.

Well you never really know the situation. Maybe the daughter was very young, and OP thought they had a few more years before having to teach her about it. I started when I was 9, and my mom was absolutely surprised by it. I remember I was so young I was watching The Magic School Bus when it happened, and I immediately called my mom thinking I was dying. Not only that but I had such bad periods and cramps that I had to miss school and stuff, so I started birth control by the age of 11.

AtherSheep 15

Actually, you can.. Most daughters will follow in either the mothers period pattern or father's mother's period pattern. In short. The daughter will usually start around the same time the mother did as a child.

AtherSheep 15

Tampons do hurt. If you pull them out to soon. Or put them in when its dry. It ******* hurts so badly. And then if you put it in at the wrong angle. There's a weird pressure pain till it slips to the right spot. Anyone with a seriously heavy period will tell you that tampons are painful, and annoying.

AtherSheep 15

Gauze isn't always tape. Gauze is just breathable cotton bandage. It's not always a tape. More than likely it's just the non tape kind

My mom had told me the basics of it, and when the time came I still freaked out even though I knew it was suppose to happen. OP may have told her daughter, but that doesn't make it any less scary when it happens!

I'm sorry but am I missing something here? I always had severe cramps since I started my period when I was 11. Even when I got put on birth control around 17. But there are two girls here who also had awful cramps and put on birth control and they no longer had or as bad cramps anymore? I wasn't aware birth control did that. I'm pretty sure it doesn't but hell I wish it did for me. It just helps me keep a regular scheduled period. May I have some of these super birth control pills...pls.

Comment moderated for rule-breaking.

Show it anyway

Yeah... It literally was... Thanks for pointing out the obvious in a lame attempt at a joke

1dvs_bstd 41

It's time for a talk. I feel bad for your poor daughter

You should try to explain to her what is happening, this is more of an FML for her though

EuphoriaYellow 10
trellz17 19

That's a harsh statement to make especially based off one situation.

Hunkapoo 19

parenting skills should be put into question when you go to the fml site after you child freaks out over having a period you never prepared her for.

Nope, complete YDI here. What kind of parent doesn't talk to their child about this?! I feel so sorry for that poor girl; I can just picture that situation and it's heartbreaking. None of this "maybe they didn't think she would get it this early" bullshit - that's precisely why you explain it a couple years before the earliest that you realistically expect it to start.

@53 I started at age 9, could you see yourself teaching a 7 year old about periods?

Thanks to all on this thread. My mum never taught me about periods so I panicked first time too but that doesn't make her fail as a parent. Some people are just busy with other things and think their kids are smart enough to work things out themselves.

AtherSheep 15

..I was taught about periods and sex and all that since the age of three. This mother has no excuse in the book to why her daughter didn't know.

#110, I started at age 8, and I knew exactly what was happening. It's not like you're going to corrupt a child's innocence by telling them how their bodies will change when they're older.

110-- my 9 year old son knows about periods. I do not understand sheltering kids from basic biology.

110, um, yes. But as I said, it depends on when you think they might actually get it. If women in the family always tend to get them later, like 16, I probably wouldn't be in a rush to tell them at like 7 (though I'd totally tell them at any age if they actually asked about it or it came up in conversation). But if there was a trend in the family to start early, or no particular trend at all, then of course I'd tell them 'early'.

Yes, I could. They'll ask long before then, and you explain to them in simple and straightforward terms. Unless, of course, you and your SO are so freaked about the body that you try pretend that it never does anything embarrassing or indelicate. Mind you, in those circumstances, having children would be too unsanitary for you anyway.

@110. Yes. Why not? What horrible thing is going to happen if you talk to children about biology? I don't even remember having the "talk," and I also don't ever remember a time when I did not understand what a period was. I always just knew it was a natural thing that would happen to me eventually, so my parents must have explained it very casually when I was pretty young. What good are you doing little girls to protect them like it is some horrible taboo subject. I pretty much knew exactly what I was up against. The only part of the whole thing that ever confused me was why my friends were terrified, humiliated and ashamed when they got theirs. Reading the comments here though, I see that they must have had parents like who tried to protect them from understanding the sinfulness of being a woman.

To be honest, pads are essentially wads of gauze with adhesive so at least she had the right idea

How sheltered is your daughter that she honestly didn't know what to do? Even if parents fail at teaching these things, usually friends or the internet does. YDI for not talking to your kids about this beforehand.

Your daughter is smarter than you are. Maybe try some parenting.

A little bit of explanation might of went a long way in preventing trauma... Just saying my sister already had this talk with her daughter and her kid is only 5.

karcummings 19

maybe you should explain whats happening to her body..