You know what? I don't even remember, really. I know my school prepared us for this sort of thing with plenty of 'what is puberty' sessions... like a mini sex-ed class, only for elementary school. o-o That, and my mother talked to me about it, too. She insisted on talking to me about right in the middle of Target, though... and ended up buying me necessities 'just to have around' for when it did start.

I think by the time it did start I knew exactly what was going on and wasn't freaked out in the slightest. If anything there's a moment of 'finally!' and then you stop and think about the other girls in your class and who else has started and who hasn't. Who you're more mature than, as if it actually matters.

At that age, anything and everything mattered. What brand and cut of jeans. In 5th grade. I was not a 'popular, trendy' girl because my family could not afford nice clothes for me. I was a smart little bookworm, a little saddened that I did not have friends, but otherwise, proud to be smarter than them and above their shallow world.

I started when I was 12, and it wasn't that big of a deal. However, I have had mine like clockwork ever since then. The pain is okay, but sometimes, I can get really crippling ones which are hell. Thankfully though I usually only have one day of pain, and the rest is trouble free.

I got mine when I was 15, in sexED Class when we were learning about getting our periods... :/

I was 15, which appears to be a lot later than a lot of people here, though I've only skimmed posts so I could be wrong.

It was nothing special, it actually started when i was using the toilet; lucky or what? There also pretty much regular as clockwork. Pain is evil, so much so sometimes (not always) that I can't actually go to college. (UK version lol I'm not 18 yet XD )

Unlucky/lucky for you, unlucky for the obvious and lucky that no one noticed!

I got my period in the 7th grade on February 27th. I remember stuff like that its weird. Any way it was the morning before i had to leave for this class trip that lasted almost a week. good thing was that there wasn't any pain, bad thing was we were outside most of the time bundled up with lots of layers and was really difficult to go to the bathroom. :(

Did you know that certain women don't get periods, especially marathon runners? That's because they don't have enough fat in their bodies or something. Just what I heard. Do you exercise A LOT?

:sweat::sweat: NiCe TiMeInG :)

oh, hell yeah. =_= i'm having one right now.
the cramps hurt so much that i can't even MOVEEE. :(
i just sit somewhere. and sit. and sit. and sit. :(
then i get bored and sit at a different place. :(

Jeez I can't even remember my first period. I'll say about 12. I've had some embarrassing moments, and have learned the hard way why light pants around that time are really not a good idea.

Cramps, PMS, stuff like that varies from month to month for me. Sometimes it's really light and not painful at all, other months it's really heavy and painful and I just would love nothing more than to lie in bed. I think I lucked out though as my mom had ovarian cysts and her periods were regularly very heavy and painful, to the point of being bed ridden.

Hubby seems to think he can tell when I'm going to start because he says I get kinda moody. When he says I think you're going to start soon after something I've said I usually would like to turn around and slap him (not too hard...just on the arm or something) for being insensitive. :P (He says it in such a tone it makes you want to roll your eyes... :roll: )

I started having periods a few months after I turned 11. I wasn't really surprised and it didn't freak me out, save for my age, and my mom just told me what to do and I did it.

I tend to have mood swings when it nears or I'm on it. I get terrible cramps the first 1-2 days of it... once I was in the movie theatres and I had no pain meds; my gosh, that pain was excruciating! :( Unfortunately, mine last about a week but it's a really light flow the majority of the time.

... And that's my story. o:

You guys, don't think you should stop drinking milk because you got yours at 11. 11/12 is 100% normal; any age later than 13 is "late." I got my first period at 14, my mother's response was "Oh good, I was wondering if you were ever going to get it because you're so skinny." (I was and still am severely underweight.)

Luckily it was summer break, so I was at home, and Mom was a childbirth educator, so I already knew more than I wanted to know and was able to take care of it quietly myself. She only found out when she noticed the tell-tale garbage in the bathroom trash bin.
I've never had unbearable cramps or PMS either, but sometimes, especially over the last year, it's been accompanied by ...heart failure. D= I think it's time I start experimenting with birth control, I need to find some way to make that stop.
Very true. It's also influenced by the hormones of any other women around you; women who live together tend to get it at the same time, and girls can get, uh, lead into their first, so to speak, by their mother and sisters.
If you're still hatin' on the cows, though, just... go organic. It does a body good.

I can beat you all at starting a period - TRY NINE YEARS OLD.

I was in fourth grade - I didn't even know what the hell it was D:

I got home and I was like, "Mom - I think I have a problem."

Oh boy... what fun times they were and it just wasn't a one time thing - I got them monthly. And then in middle school I got diagnosed with Endometriosis. Don't know what that is? Read about it.

I hit puberty early though, I had a C cup starting the fourth grade and that's because I was defiantly over weight as a child (and really didn't loose it until high school.) I'm on birth control pills to specifically control my period cramping, but insurance switched me over to some crap brand which hasn't really been doing it's job.

When I was 11 or 12. But happened just twice in that year...and sometimes until now... now my period is kinda more regular.... And it's almost like I don't have one...It's really little blood. XD (but lasts normally)

I got mine when I was twelve I hated it, it was the end of grade six and it was the last day of school you'd think "YAY! no more school" but no...I felt a weird pain in my lower tummy but I didn't think anything of it, finally the end of the day came, and I didn't even bother checking my chair....but my friend alessandro did -_-" he knew I had gotten my period and hadn't told me, I had found out later on once I got home, and being the good friend he is he told everyone yay lol so most of my grade six class knew I had got my period, I'm now 16 and quite use to having my period. ;)

Sadly, I got mine in the beging of 6th grade... I never told my mother. She Didnt fid out till about two months into seventh grade when she found my Purse that had Pads and tampons In it (not used lol).
Then I got grounded for like a month because I didnt tell her.
My mom makes everything Awquward so i usually dont tell her anything.
As for the Period pains and cramps, I never get those.
And i am never moody, so i think when i get married my husband will
be pretty lucky to not have to go through that stuff.

lol I just noticed how many guys have commented on this topic, some of them have been smart and said productive things, others have been rude. I don't under stand? why would you comment on something that you've never experienced and be rude about it too? see this is why I don't like boys sometimes, they think that they can comment on everything and there opinion matters on everything, well on this particular topic your rude opinion doesn't matter, if your posting a question or saying something relevant sure thats kind and shows respect but when you say something rude thats really lame, think before you post something boys, expecialy on a girls topic :heart:

I was 18 close to nineteen. I was never regular, and I did have pains. I have gone a hole year before I had another period. I was luck though, because I was able to catch the problem before it has gotten worse. It was my thyroid problem. My periods are still not regular, but at lest I don't have to say in bed because of blood lost.

I was in 6th or 7th grade. I was lucky because it happended at home. My mom didn't do anything embarassing, just told me what to do and stuff.
I'm not regular at all. I go 1-3 months between periods. I get bad cramps before it starts so at least I get a warning.

oh, i soo totally agree. experience it, THEN you will share our feelings. It's gonna take a long time for guys to get periods.

@FappingMouse - you do realize that on an avatar community many girls have male avatars, right? You might have to double check to know if the person posting is a girl or a boy.

@Manga_Animefan1223 - A long time to get their periods? Ummm, I fairly certain the male species will probably never get a period. I mean, maybe something could change biologically with them, but I highly doubt that.

I had mine at a church function. My parents divorced and I was living with my Dad. No one ever told me about them and I was so lost to what was happing. I was 14 adn some lady had to come in and talk to me about it.

I was so embaressed that I couldn't even tell my Dad so he could buy me tampons at the store.

*squirms around in wheelie chair* ewww i'm having one right now and I really need to go change the tampon. I know a girl who had a cardboard tampon instead of plastic, and she had to get surgery to get the paper cardboard out. ew. ima go change me tampon *runs away to change tampon*

yea. i was saying that at boy's avi's that were boys. but if they did, invent a boy's tampon.

My sister was only 10 years old when she got hers, so grade 5. We were on a ferry, walking around upstairs together.
Since I'm a bit older than her, I knew what it was immediately. She was a little too young to fully understand it. Or at least how to deal with it. I didn't see anything. She just tugged on my jacket and whispered, "I think I peed."
Our mother had spoken to her about it very briefly and I had to take her into the family bathroom and explain to her what was happening and how to handle it. Very embarassing for her. She would kill me if she knew I was posting this, haha.

@Manga_AnimeFan- blech surgery?! O.o Wow! how do you even manage to get it so stuck....that musta been pretty awquard for her, explaining the situtation. XD never will i buy a cardboard tampon!

i had my period when i was 10 , i remember when i first saw the blood i didn't know what it was because school didn't teach me about periods yet . i thought i had some illness and i was dying , and i just kept throwing away my underwear in the bathroom trashcan and i didn't tell my mom about this . and by the end of the week my mom went to change the trash bag in the bathroom . LOL