How To Organize An Emergency Period Kit Before Camp

It’s inevitable. The day, or night, will come when your daughter will start her period. The signs are evident that it is about to happen any day now. To you, and to her as well. Because if the signs are there ‘the talk’ should have taken place already.  

If you wait until ‘the day,’ you have missed the window of opportunity. She needs to know, soon, that being a girl means being prepared.

Thankfully, my own mom was both honest and prepared. I have a terrible Grade 9 memory of a good friend getting her first period in the cafeteria — and having no idea what was happening. You do not want this to be your child.

And so, while my own daughter is likely more than a decade away from getting her first period, my thoughts are with all the excited pre-teens headed off to camp this summer. Do not leave your daughter confused, surrounded by a huddle of her bff's who have to explain what is happening to her.

If your daughter is going off to sleepover camp, you will definitely want to organize an Emergency Period Kit — and you probably would want to seize this special moment by talking first and then preparing the kit together.

There are two guidelines to approaching this life event:

Be Honest

• Have "the talk."
• Take moments when it seems natural and comfortable to chat about having her period. Share the story of your first period. Keep it light and natural.
• If she has questions you can straight-up answer these or even look at the Being Girl website. It has clear, specific, no-euphamism information written with girl-as-user in mind. Plus, if there are questions she is too embarrassed to ask, she will find the answers here. In fact, she probably won't even know what questions to ask at first. That's ok. It takes a woman a little time to become an "expert" on her period.
• Try breaking "the talk" into several conversations — giving her the time to digest what you’ve discussed and to think of questions to ask you. If you need some inspiration for "the talk" then take a look at this site designed with moms in mind.
• Remind her that it’s part of life. Try to never to ignore the inevitable. Do not give it an air of secrecy or shame. No, no, no.

Be Prepared

• Plan, with your daughter, what supplies to have on hand. Then shop. Buy other items at the same time. After all, supplies for her period are just part of her life.
• Always have a variety of supplies on hand, such as panty liners, Always Radiant Infinity Teen pads, Tampax Pearl tampons and a clean pair of underwear. She may not feel comfortable using tampons right away, but having a variety of products on hand gives her the opportunity to explore her needs and preferences.

Organizing an Emergency Kit for Sleepover Camp

When your daughter goes off to sleepover camp, there are likely many caveats and reminders a parent will want to go over. ‘Don’t roll your eyes, dear daughter, it’s my job!’ you say with a smile.

Now use those simple rules of BE HONEST & BE PREPARED:

HONEST >> "You might start your period while you are at sleepover camp."

HONEST >> "That’s okay, because we have talked about what to expect."

PREPARED >> "Let’s prepare an 'Emergency Period Kit’ for camp."

PREPARED >> "Let’s make a shopping list, but first we will check what is available here that you already have!"

HONEST AND PREPARED >> Your daughter might want to make her own list AND kit. That’s fine too!

PREPARED >> You can even have a premade kit on-hand in case she acts like she isn't interested.

HONEST AND PREPARED >> Talk a little bit more with your daughter about starting her period.

Use smart, accessible websites to give you and your daughter answers to questions and concerns, be honest and straightforward about starting her period, and be prepared for it!

Organizing an emergency kit for sleepover camp just makes sense. Now, if she does start her period while she's away, she will not feel alone or unprepared. 

Plus, now you have two guidelines for all the other talks...

What’s next? Boys? Dating?! This parenting thing never gets easy!!!