As a woman you’d think I’d know a lot about the menstrual cycle.  After all I’ve been experiencing it for quite a while now. Then I realized I have to explain the menstrual cycle to my daughter.   So of course, like so many of us, I turned to books (you’ll find my favorites in the webstore) and I turned to the web. I found all kinds of helpful information about the menstrual cycle.

First, assure your preteen that menstruation is not mysterious.  It’s a normal, natural cycle of life. It’s the major stage of puberty that signals a girl is becoming a woman. That’s actually why it’s a special time.

Here’s some interesting information about menstruation:

• Menarche is the scientific name for a girl’s first period and usually begins 2 to 2 1/2 years after a girl begins to develop breasts.

• A girl’s menstrual cycle is the number of days between the first day of bleeding and the first day of bleeding the following month.

• On average a girl’s cycle is 28 days, which is how I came up with the name for the company: Divine28!

• At first menstrual cycles last 21-45 days (and may be a little irregular).  Cycles will become more regular and may shorten to the standard adult cycle of 21-34 days after a couple of years.

• For many women, cramps are a normal part of the process caused by the muscles of the uterus contracting.

• See a doctor if your menstrual period lasts longer than a week, your period is much heavier than normal, you miss more than three periods, you bleed between periods, or you experience a lot more pain than usual.

Now I don’t know that my daughter will need all this information to flourish as she becomes a young woman, but knowledge is power, and above all I want my daughter to feel powerful, and special.

For some great information about menstruation, check out our post about “Menstrual Cycle Phases” and some tips for teens in the “Period Calendar” article on the Always website.