Better Period Education for 5th Graders
What age do girls get periods?
How do I insert a tampon
Does tampons make you not a virgin?
What is the thick clear fluid in my underwear?
These are the Google searches you would have seen in my search history as an 11 year old. (If Google existed lol) Although I knew some of the basics, I did not know the details. My early 2000’s youth education was dependent on Are you There God? It’s Me Margaret, the Georgia Nicholson Series, Sixteen Magazine, and the brave gals in my friend group who were willing to talk about the taboo. So yea, I knew I was going to get a period, and that’s really it.
My friend told me about the day she got her first period: “I thought I peed my pants. Seriously! I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in a store with my grandma, and it happened. Later, she gave me pantyliners, and a brief “you’re fine” but I didn’t really know what happened to me.
Turns out I was in puberty and it was discharge (cervical mucous). Just nobody ever mentioned that part. I told my friends, and they were all relieved to know that this newfound discovery was not a sign of our collective newly contracted disease or impending death. It was just that nobody thought to tell us about it.”
Menstrual education has always been an area that lacking whether it be for the at home or in-school learning experience. Although sexual health education has come a long way, reproductive health, especially the health of utero-humans, is still lackluster. It’s under researched, not spoken of, taboo, and even debated. Menstrual education and family planning (or family prevention!) often follows the trajectory of whoever is in office, whichever dominant religion prevails, or whoever’s bias is in the room. Even school curriculum can fall short, following prescribed education and textbooks from the Ministry of Education, dependent on the politics of the time.
And while Mrs. Johnson who teaches physical health education may know a lot of the ins and out of sexual health, that is a lot of pressure for one teacher. And a lot of students aren’t asking the teacher at all- they are asking Google and Chat GPT
How to fold a diva cup?
Can people smell me on my period?
Can I swim in the ocean on my period?
How to ask teacher for a tampon?
What to do if someone find my tampons?
THIS!! This is why you should consider a menstrual health educator as a guest into your 5th Grader’s Classroom. A menstrual health educator, like Heather, can provide in depth education in an environment that is more condusive to a lasting learning experience.
Hiring a menstrual educator makes a difference, here’s why:
Asking “embarrassing” questions to someone you don’t know feels a lot less risky than having to see the person every day. While teachers provide a lot of emotional and informational support, a guest speaker can provide that ease and calm of partial anonymity.
Comfort. While we all have biases and discomforts, hiring someone who specializes in menstrual health can reduce barriers to learning by decreasing the level of shame, embarrassment, or misinformation that gets passed down to our youth. We all carry our own baggage, and hiring someone who has worked through theirs to teach youth provides a level of mindfulness around normalization and stigmatization that’s often overlooked.
Props! We know teaching is a hugely underfunded field, with teachers often pulling from their own pockets to fill their classroom. Fear not! Heather will arrive with her own model uterus :)
Sexual health education is a community responsibility, not just a teacher’s. When reliable and educated community members pave the way to talk about menstrual health in and out of the classroom, youth become empowered in their health, create protective boundaries, and prevent harm to their bodies. They also learn who is safe to turn to as they go through adolescence rather than turning to misinformation.
Inquire here with Heather from Moon & Bloom today to chat with your class.
