Being a parent is never easy. Yet, it can be especially overwhelming when your children hit puberty and you need to have the period talk with them. While educating either, an adolescent boy or an adolescent girl about puberty and periods can be equally challenging, it becomes important to go beyond theory and talk about period health when you are talking to your daughter. Here is a quick guide to help you get started with the basics of introducing period health and hygiene.
Build relatability
Each organ in the human body is unique in its functions, and in the discipline it takes at our end to keep it in good health. And so is the vulva. When you start a conversation with this context, both of you are likely to be less overwhelmed while discussing menstruation, the care and hygiene it calls for on a consistent basis, and essentials such as sanitary pads and intimate washes.
Keep it interactives
Remember, a good discussion is one where your soon-to-be-teenager feels comfortable throwing questions back at you rather than hear out your monologue. So, try to include some interactive moments. For instance, ask them if they have discussed period health at school or amongst friends and if they have already come across period health and hygiene products such as sanitary pads and intimate washes. This way, you won’t end up giving a sermon on something they already know; the conversation will evolve to resolving their doubts around the subject.
Value their opinion
Irrespective of the practical experience they might have with period health and hygiene, chances are your adolescents already have a general view about brands they want to shop, health and hygiene product types that align with their needs, and so on. They might even be keen to try out their friends’ favourites. So instead of talking down to them, tell them why a certain brand qualifies as the best sanitary pad or the best intimate wash for you as a woman. For instance, Nua’s sanitary pads could be the best sanitary pads for you owing to their toxin-free and rash-free nature. Similarly, you might be finding Nua’s intimate wash to be the best intimate wash for women in India owing to its paraben and sulphate-free nature. Follow this up by asking them if your reasons make sense to them and what are the factors that matter to them.
Share social access
While your children rely on you for authentic information, they are equally eager to consume opinions about the same from their online peers and influencers. So share credible online resources with them where they can learn more about how girls and women are approaching their period health and hygiene. This will also give way to them coming up to you with more questions, doubts, and preferences regarding their own period health and hygiene.
To sum it up, talking about period health and hygiene should be an easy and interactive process than a one-time diktat that you announce to your children. After all, until they are convinced about what makes a period health product such as a sanitary pad or an intimate wash the best one, they are unlikely to get the maximum value from them.
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