Dads and Periods

Our second blog series: Dads and periods

My parents are divorces, so on weekends I would go to my dads. There was no way I was going to tell my DAD that I started my period. 

When he started finding my soiled underwear and clothes, he asked me. I just cried, I was so embarrassed. I was the oldest of four girls, so he didn't have a clue either. It's so funny now to think of my dad asking me about pads. He had me show him what pads I used, which he thought resembled diapers. I believe his exact words were," There's gotta be another way." He asked if they were comfortable, they were not. Maxi pads for a woman with heavy flow were not working for me. He took me to the store and we learned about period products together. He bought me a sweet treat and pain medicine for the cramps. He did this for me, then my sisters. This story is very special for me because I now know he did not have the money do that. We always took his jar of change to cash in at the CoinStar first. Every first and third Saturday of the month we went to a church to collect food, they also had a room full of clothes, shoes, makeup, toys, and period shoe boxes. I was always so happy to get my shoe box full of pads and tampons of all sizes. If I asked my dad today, he would take me to the store, let me pick out the products I wanted, a treat, and medicine for the cramps.

- Shannie J.

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