Some parents find that talking to their kids about changing bodies and puberty is a very controversial and important topic. Other parents find that they would rather the health teacher share the information in school. Sometimes, it's best to just rip the bandage off and get right down to business for some kids, but, other times parents want to wait.
Teenager Upsets Parents By Explaining Menstruation To Her 12-Year-Old Brother
Recently, one sister decided that maybe it would be best if she explained everything to her brothers to save her parents the trouble.
Unsplash | Sidekix Media
The 15-year-old Reddit user said that she shares a bathroom with her 17-year-old and 12-year-old brothers at home. Obviously, their paths will cross when it comes to feminine products.
The Reddit user said that her brother had recently approached her about a box of tampons she had in the bathroom.
Unsplash | Gabrielle Rocha Rios
"I share a bathroom with my brothers, and the other day I accidentally left a box of tampons on the counter instead of putting them away. My younger brother asked me what they were, and I said that they were tampons," she said.
Her brother, who is only 12-years-old, was obviously a tad confused.
Unsplash | Sharon McCutcheon
"Cue him being very confused, and my older brother and I realising [sic] that he knows nothing about any of this stuff. We decided to give him a basic rundown of the female reproductive system and he seemed okay with it," she added.
Their parents, however, we not happy to hear that they had gone ahead with the "talk" without their permission.
Unsplash | Alexander Sergienko
"That night, he mentioned to our parents that we told him about periods and they got pretty upset. My mom said that he's way [too] young to be knowing about this and that it was inappropriate for us to be telling him," she wrote.
As it turns out, the parents also wanted to opt him out of "sex ed." at school because they thought he was "too young."
Unsplash | Charles Deluvio
"I can kind of see where they're coming from, he is their kid after all and I definitely could have just said that the tampons were 'feminine products'. However, this is something he would have to learn at some point and that wasn't going to happen if they didn't let him go to sex ed," the Reddit user wrote.
She asked the Reddit community if she was wrong for explaining periods and "the talk" to her brother, knowing he would ask eventually.
Unsplash | Good Soul Shop
Many people on Reddit said she wasn't wrong at all, and that her parents are wrong for trying to shelter their son from knowing about things that are totally and completely natural.
One person was confused as to why the parents thought 12 was "too young" to know about periods.
"How is a 12-year-old learning about sex and periods harmful? What’s harmful is trying to prevent a 12-year-old from learning about things that are completely normal and natural and giving the impression that these things are gross," they wrote.
Others said that it's the parents fault for having them all share a bathroom.
Unsplash | Christian Mackie
"He isn’t too young, and there is nothing inappropriate about menstruation. If your parents want to hide this from him, they shouldn’t have him sharing a bathroom with a person who menstruates," one person added.
Others said that educating children can help others in the future.
"It just reminds me of that story of when a woman got her first period while she was being babysat by a 15ish-year-old guy who thought she was dying and her organs were falling out. Moral of the story is please educate your children," another Reddit user said.
Do you think she was in the wrong? Or totally justified?
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