April

Brief Outline:

April is 13. Her periods started this year. They have been heavy since they began, and come more often than she expected. She had really marked pain before they started, which she did not know could happen and which was a bit unexpected. She has learnt how to manage them now, supported by her mum, but does worry a bit about managing bleeding and the risk of leaking in school. She thinks this could be helped if teachers allowed people to go to the toilet when they need to. She thinks education in schools could tell young people more about what to expect, like impacts on emotions and pain, rather than just telling people what they are and about products for bleeding. Her mum thinks it would also be helpful for schools to share with parents what has been taught and what the support systems are, and to have reliable trusted resources to help parents support their young people when they are starting periods. Clips are read by an actor.

April has always had headaches, but she thinks they have got a bit worse with the run up to starting her periods (read by an actor).

OK. Do... have you noticed any change with your headaches or your periods with... yeah, sorry, your headaches with your periods?

April: No, not really, but I do get... like ever since I was little I do have like really bad headache.

Mum: I think they got a little bit worse running up to your period, in terms of.—

April: They have, and maybe yes they have been getting a bit worse.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, OK, so possibly a bit of a relation with your cycle and the headaches?

Mum: I thought that, ’cause in the run up to her period I wondered if the period was maybe starting to just with the headaches, and I wondered if it was all linked to her hormones ’cause they were getting a little bit worse, but... yeah.

April thinks her lessons about periods at school focussed on the menstrual cycle and bleeding products, but ‘not a lot’ about period pain (read by an actor).

OK. And can you remember, did they talk to you about... what... can you remember what they kinda focused on or what you learnt?

April: They teached us the cycle of it and like the breakdown of what happens, and just like basically what it is, and like the cycle.

Yeah. Did you ever get taught in your lessons about things like period pain or... or...?

April: Not as much... not more like... not really a lot about period pain. It was more like what to do, like what it... what it was and like the cycle of it and like what happens during the period; there wasn’t really anything about period pain.

OK. Did they talk about anything like what to expect in terms of how often they come or... or range of bleeding, or anything like that?

April: No, not really, ’cause it was... it was... it’s kinda different because in my tutor times they kinda showed us products and like kind of the stuff like that. But then obviously in science, it was more like you write down like the weeks that it comes and its cycle, so....

OK. And... and at primary school, I guess that’s a wee while ago now.

April: Yeah.

OK. So, do you remember in school ever learning about period pain or... or how people might have talked to you about period pain?

April: In primary school or like...?—

Or I guess kinda ever really?

April: No, no-one’s really talked to us about period pain in school; it’s... it’s mostly just like about what it is. I don’t really remember... And maybe once, maybe someone said that you do get pain, but not that I can remember.

April sometimes gets information about periods through social media on her feed, but this is mostly product adverts, with sometimes some humorous relatable clips or facts (read by an actor).

Do you ever get kinda information about periods? I don’t know if you use TikTok or Instagram or... or any... well, mainly TikTok I guess?

April: I def... I definitely see a lot of like ads on TikTok, like... you know, like pads and stuff, like stuff like that, but other than that, no, not really. Like we said relatable TikToks about it, and stuff, but other than that, not really, no.

OK. What are the relatable TikToks about? Are they...?

Mum: Are they jokes, like names and…is that what you mean?

April: And maybe it’s like... and yeah, and maybe it’s just like jokes and like things that like people find relatable. I don’t know, like... or like just like ads about like pads, stuff like that, like...

Yeah. So, more things to buy?

April: Yeah.

But not facts about pain or things to do... any health things?

April: People do put like facts and like help and advice on there, but it’s not really like what I find on my feed; it’s not my kinda like feed.

No, OK. OK, so there are facts, but you’d... you’ve not... they’ve not particularly been coming to you or you’d not really been looking for them?

No, they don’t really come to me, no.

April finds that some teachers can be quite strict about letting people go to the toilet in lessons. One made her give up 5 minutes of her break, she thinks people should be able to go to the toilet when they need to (read by an actor).

I... I do get a little bit anxious when I’m at school with like... ’cause like obviously of like leaks and stuff, but obviously like none of that’s happened. I do get like quite anxious, but like I know like it’s gonna be all right, so...

I feel like teachers maybe just have a little bit more understanding and let girls go to the toilet a bit more often ’cause it can be like quite bad at my school, ’cause I know some of the teachers can be really strict. Like, I don’t really wanna get into a lot... a lot of detail about it, but like I’ve had a geography teacher and I’ve had pe... and like girls in my classroom ask, can they use the toilet, and he’s saying that we’re gonna have to give up five minutes of my break to go to the toilet. And I just think it’s a bit like stupid because like obviously people need to go to the toilet if it’s like for medical reasons, but sometimes they do give like out toilet passes if it’s like... if you have a reason for it.

April’s mum wanted her daughter to learn about periods from her before hearing about them elsewhere, but wasn’t sure where to find reliable resources (read by an actor).

Mum: And, you know, it was just kind of... ’cause there’s... there is a lot out there, but you... it... it’s trying to sift through it all to find the most reliable and useful. Like and I suppose not all parents would do that either. You know, there’s... And that you... you think you feel... you know, for the children that probably don’t have that, those discussions at home, that they’re either probably more reliant on school, so it’s... you know, you think of it... you kind of want... or if the children themselves look, you know if they hear their friends talking about periods, ’cause I mean I’m sure, you know, they did before periods started, it would have been, ’cause I know she came home and talked... mentioned to me about a couple of girls that had started their periods earlier, so they must have talked about it, because they knew about it, but then you think, you know, if those girls hadn’t had anybody maybe at home to talk about it, you know, where did they get their information from?

Yeah.

Mum: ’cause I think a lot of the school books is only looking at the biology of it all, and I think she’s probably... you know, she’s probably right, the information around what the flow could be like, what pain could be like, how you deal with the anxiety about if you have got a heavy period, the worry about something happening at school or when you’re out, and I don’t think there’s enough information or easily accessible information for children about that.

April’s mum hadn’t been sure about when to start talking about periods or what resources could help her with this(read by an actor).

Mum: I think, so I can... Yeah, I think, kind of when... you know, you never quite know when...and I suppose every child’s different, when to start talking to your child about periods. And we... I started once she started asking questions, when she was young. So, she kind of started asking questions around topics like that, she was... so... And we bought her a book, but that was just through a friend recommended, and we talked through that together. Do you remember the book?

April: I do.

Mum: Uh-huh.

April: I remember that [chuckles].

Mum: Yes.

April: Yeah.

Mum: And then we talked through that. And then I think just because I’ve never really hidden periods, you know, and we’ve never really hidden things, we’ve always talked about it at home, so you knew... kind of knew about it, didn’t you? And, you know, she would see my... you know, the packs of pads in the drawer anyway that are there, so we talked about that. But I think from the point of view... you... and I think I was just guided by her. But I suppose there was still that kind of anxiety around when do you start talking to your child about it, when do you start preparing them? And I suppose that’s quite different because girls start at different ages: some start very young, some start older. But I think from... there’s nothing really, unless you go searching, there’s not... the resources are a bit... you don’t know what... what’s reliable; you would have to go and research it all about it yourself. And then, you know, I don’t think I’ve ever come across anything that’s explained around the pain or the moods, and nothing really about the fact that periods could be heavy as well.