Letting go of doing everything “right”

A few years ago on a walk with my daughter I said something like, “so your first period is probably going to come in the next year or so… do you have any ideas about what you would like for that? Is there something you’d like to do or get that would make you feel special when the time comes?”

She answered quickly: I want a blanket like yours. I have a super soft and cozy blanket that I only ever used during my period as a special reminder to rest. I thought ah, that’s wonderful and simple, I’d love to choose a blanket for her.

And then months and months passed and all that time I had in the back of my mind and on a to-do list: pick out a special blanket and have it ready.

And then her first period came and I didn’t have the special blanket. I definitely thought to myself: oh wow, I really missed the boat, this is my job as her mama and this what I teach professionally and I failed. I had to take a deep breath, shake it off and refocus on my daughter.

In the moment, I loaned her my period blanket and then we chose one for her together which all ended up being great. And my daughter, who was born with strong opinions, reminded me after approving this blog post that she’s happy she got to pick out exactly what she wanted.

I wanted to share this story about letting go of doing everything “right” as a reminder to all of us that there is no such thing as a perfect first period.

There is however, so much value in getting yourself and your tween ready for a healthy, positive start and that’s where I come in. My job is to teach, coach and guide you to get ready — to engage your tween, to make a plan, to gather supplies, to put together a first period kit your daughter will love, to learn about our cycles, hormones and what’s happening in our bodies so you can answer questions and offer support, to build your confidence.