Monthly Archives: December 2013

5 Tips to Talk to Your Daughter about Menstruation

Happy New Year from Dot Girl ProductsReposting our New Year’s advice from a couple of years ago.  May you all have a joyful New Year with your families!

Tomorrow starts the new year and that means it’s time for resolutions. If your daughter is approaching puberty and your resolution is to explain things to her, here are 5 Tips to help guide the discussion about menstruation:

1. Don’t leave it up to the schools and Internet websites to deliver the information. Make time to connect with your daughter to talk about this important milestone, make sure she understands the information, and feels comfortable asking questions.

2. Share your own memories and experiences from this time in your life. Did you have any embarrassing moments? Where were you when you started your first period? When did you buy your first bra? Sharing your stories will help your daughter realize that she is not alone in this experience.

3. Ask other women in your family to share their stories which will provide a sense of family togetherness and will give your daughter an idea of how times have changed. For example, girls today don’t have to deal with the belt and napkin. It used to be that feminine hygiene products were not even advertised on TV.

4. Schedule a field trip with friends and their moms to the local drugstore to explore the feminine hygiene aisle. Today, these products are displayed abundantly, just like shampoo and other personal care essentials. A trip like this reinforces that these products are a normal part of life.

5. Remember to keep the lines of communication open and start early. Being open and honest with your daughter when she is in her early years will lay the foundation important conversations to take shape as she grows older and has even more challenging questions and issues on her mind. Try not to have one big talk. Instead, slip in nuggets of information into normal everyday conversation. And don’t wait for your daughter to initiate the conversation because she may be too embarrassed to do so.

Dot Girl Gift Recommendations – Books!

Christmas 2013 #1

Only 17 days left for Christmas shopping!  Which means it’s time for Dot Girl to roll out our annual list of gift recommendations.  This week we are concentrating on books of which there is a perfect one for every child.  These are books that are new (to us at least) this past year – some you may have heard of, some may be new to you.  All of them are great reads.

Something to Hold by: Katherine Schlick Noe

Based on the author’s childhood growing up on Warms Springs Reservation in Oregon the book explores differences and how friendships can still grow from those differences. Winner of the 2012 Washington State Book Award for Middle Grades and Young Adults

The Book Thief by: Markus Zusak

This young adult novel (ages 14 and up) is getting quite a bit of attention later because of the movie release.  Skip the movie and read the book instead.  It is one of my all time favorites and I didn’t read it until last year, well past young adulthood.  Cleverly narrated by Death, the book demonstrates what it means to care for others while we are on this earth.

A Tangle of Knots by: Lisa Graff

Set in a magical world where everyone has a special Talent, the main character Cady – whose Talent is cake baking, embarks on a journey that may lead to her long lost parent.  Whimsical and delightful and sure to capture any young girl’s imagination. Winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.

Drama by: Raina Telgemeier

I’m partial to this book because our youngest son, and all his friends, are drama geeks.  He’s a college student now, but we spent years driving him back and forth to a community theater where he took part in many productions.  This book captures well the ‘drama’ of being involved in the dramatic arts – especially at the middle school level.

Three Times Lucky by: Sheila Turnage

A debut novel, this book has garnered lots of recognition, all well deserved.  Rising sixth-grader Mo LoBeau leads her small town through mystery and adventure as she investigates a murder and searches for her long lost mother.

May your daughter enjoy happy reading this Christmas season!