Rites of Passage

[Radiana]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 3:30am

What was it like on the first day that your body told you were growing up? I know most of the gals went to their moms telling them that they started their periods. But what did the guys do when they had their first wet dream? Did you guys tell your dads?

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 3:43am

I went kicking and screaming into puberty...and that's how I'm going to go out, too.

[Radiana]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 3:47am

I went to my mom in tears not knowing what to say. I just told her I had just become a woman. I didn't even go to school that day just stayed in bed and grieved.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 3:57am

I told my mother and cried, too, but I was pissed-off about it! I didn't grieve. All I thought about was, "This is going to be a real PAIN." I hated being female. I resented men and, at the same, wanted to be a male. Of course, I was also attracted to men in a sexual way. In other words, I was your typical adolescent dealing with unpredictable hormones, growing up, responsibility, parental and societal expectations, anxiety about the future and a tangled webs of inexplicable emotions.

But it all settled down eventually...like 20 years later!

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 7:40am

I first felt like I had passed childhood when I had to watch a live birth in biology class. I don't think I've ever been the same since.

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 8:31am

Having been raised Catholic, I spoke to no one about anything.

[justagirl2]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:15am

LOL, brian.

I honestly don't remember...I think I told my mom, she gave me some pads (which I quickly overhauled for tampons), and that was that. I was a pretty rational teenager, actually. My hormones were never that out-of-whack (probably because I never went through a phase where I didn't like boys); adolescence was a pretty easy time for me. I know, I know, I'll stop now.

Schmerg, was it the Miracle of Birth? Quality film, that.

[danmag]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:20am

I figure you find out your son is having wet dreams when you go to wash his sheets.


Not a moment I'm looking forward to....

Updated On: 1/29/09 at 11:20 AM

[Radiana]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:25am

That's what I figured but I raised two of them and never saw anything on the sheets. Maybe they started doing their own laundry. To be honest I don't know at what age that even happens. Is it 12 or 14?

[justagirl2]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:26am

danmag, they'll probably be embarrassed and wash their sheets themselves. If not, you have my sympathies.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:27am

mine was, "f***! now i have to buy condoms."

[danmag]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:31am

The day either of my sons washes their own sheets, I'll KNOW they are having wet dreams. They wouldn't know a washing machine if it kicked them in the ass.

[killertofu333]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:33am

"I think I told my mom, she gave me some pads (which I quickly overhauled for tampons)"

I did the same thing!!! My trek to womanhood started right before church, 2 weeks before my 13th birthday. My mom gave me some pads that looked like water skis. Those things were so long, I swear they touched the base of my spine and my belly button...at the same time!!!

Updated On: 1/29/09 at 11:33 AM

[Radiana]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:35am

Can we get a little more participation from the guys out there.
At least give us gals some idea of when we can expect our sons to start doing their laundry.

[BroadwayBoy2]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 11:39am

For me it was when I was allowed not to attend family vacations and have the house to myself. For those of you who know Arrested Development I was blasting Roses Turn and had a Martini in my hand the whole time!

Posted: 1/29/09 at 12:03pm

Regarding boys and laundry, don't hold your breath! But don't worry, if my history is typical, boys only have a few "special dreams". Then they start taking care of things themselves during their waking hours. Watch for the time they spend in the shower to double (or triple). Then you will know.

[danmag]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 12:09pm

Man, my water bill is going to skyrocket! Oh well, better that than lots of funky sheets to wash!

[Weez]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 1:47pm

I don't remember growing up. I used to read Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret all the time (it was the only Judy Blume book I owned, and sometimes you just wanna kick back with Judy :P) so I got that wearing a bra and having your period was supposed to be a really big deal, but when it happened for me, it just... wasn't. I remember the first time I shaved my armpits though, for some bizarre reason. XD

My friend's son is 9 and he's just started to notice that sometimes certain parts of his body will stiffen of their own volition when you're doing nothing at all to them. It seems puberty might be striking earlier for that little fella...

[Radiana]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 1:59pm

My oldest son used to read Judy Blume. I need to read some of her stuff. Didn't she write a play also?

[Taryn]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 4:04pm

I remembering not figuring out about my period because, dammit, there was BROWN stuff on my underwear, and blood is obviously red. I didn't quite get it til I investigated where it was coming from and told my mom, who got all teary-eyed and said, "You've become a woman!" I like to think they were tears of profound grief for the horrors of menstruation I would now be forced to endure for years to come.

I also have a distinct memory of shaving my legs for the first time when I was in seventh grade. I was going out with a guy later that day. I remember taking FOREVER, because I had no idea what I was doing, and that it didn't come out great in the end anyways.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 4:23pm

I don't remember exactly what happened before it happened. But, the day I discovered I was having it for the first time, my mother wasn't home, and I didn't want to talk to my older sister about it because we didn't get along all the time. So, I grabbed a few pads from my parent's bathroom closet and locked myself in the bathroom because I was too embarrassed to tell my dad.

[Madcap Maisie]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 4:26pm

ugh.

My first day of highschool. Yes. That is about the worst day for it to happen in my opinion...

[AbbaRabbit]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 4:45pm

i screamed because it had always been described to be as a "beautiful natural thing" and not a river of blood and agonizing pain and i thought i was dying.

[mauriposa]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 6:45pm

My mom took me into the bathroom to have a special talk when I was around 10 (she started early and thought I might too). As soon as I figured out where the talk was heading, I stopped her cold. "Ma?" I said, "Is this about period?s" She responded, "Yes, it is. Why?" So I shook my head, "I already know all about that." She was confused and asked how I knew. My answer was simple, "My Girl."

And that was the end of that.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 1/29/09 at 8:18pm

I'll be brave...

I never once had the desire to wash my own bedsheets, even after having a "special dream." In my 12/13 year old brilliant brain, I thought if I just wiped everything up, no one would notice when they did the laundry. Ditto for the wet pajamas. We'd watched "the movie" in school and already had "the talk" so I knew exactly what was going on. No, I NEVER talked to my father about this- I would have never dreamed of doing such a thing. As someone else in the thread said, after a short time, you figure out how to take of these issues during waking hours, which presents a whole other set of problems, of course.

Also, I have to say, contrary to how this is portrayed in movies/television/novels, this was not something that you ever discussed with your friends at school the next day. I don't ever recall the subject coming up. Not once.