Lifestyles / Young Women
The Time of the Month

Talking to girlfriends and their experiences of their first period sends shivers down their spines.  One in particular was ten years old when she woke up and shockingly discovered her period.  Confusion instantly sprang to her mind and she ran straight to her mum for clarification.  Her mum got the shock of her life too, it seemed, and did everything she could, but still confused, went to school on her mother’s orders to tell the teachers.  The teachers told her to use the teachers toilet, which again left her confused, but also embarrassed as the whole school seemed to know that she was on her period.  To further add to injury, she experience excruciating pains which caused her to be in sheds of tears and she wasn’t even a teen!

• Puberty is when a girl’s body changes into a woman’s.  The average age for this  to happen is from 9 to 13 but can happen before or after this time.
• When puberty occurs, your breasts start to grow and your body becomes curvy.
• You will begin to develop hair under the arms, the vagina, legs and upper lip.
• Your skin and hair will become oily and so you will have to take care of  personal hygiene.
• You could also develop spots
• Mood swings occur

When you discover you have a period, it means that your body has developed to have a baby.  The ovaries will release an egg each month where a thick lining forms in the womb for the baby to grow in there.

If the egg isn’t fertilised, it won’t develop into a baby and the thick lining which is not needed for that month becomes discarded and becomes a period releasing blood from the vagina which lasts for three to eight days.

If this happens, don’t panic, it’s your body telling you that you are growing into a beautiful young woman; who may suffer from mood swings and all those other annoying things!