Not so little girl
It has been fun watching my daughter grow up. I'm not one of those moms who ever says, "Oh, I just want to keep her a baby as long as possible."
I adore my kid. I think she's so smart, and so funny, and so genuinely caring. I can't help but be proud of her amazing life. I have already learned from her. What a gift she is to me.
We've been brushing up against the "growing up" topics for about a year now. We've had many many "period" talks, till her questions of the mystical nature of being a woman were somewhat satisfied. And then the more practical side came up. "Why do people use tampons? Doesn't it hurt?" I realized that we needed to address it for real. So I bought a box of pads and a box of tampons and we sat at the breakfast table and I had her open up whatever she wanted. She poked at them, and pulled and wadded and then tore one to bits. I got a glass of water for her and she poured water and dunked them and played with the adhesive parts and opened a couple more.
After awhile, I could tell she was completely satisfied. She looked up at me, and then started cleaning it all up. She asked if she could take some of it to Dad's house and leave some at my house.
No more mystery. Not as scary. Now all the stories her 5th grader girlfriends tell her won't freak her out so much anymore. Man, I wish someone had done that for me. I got all my education on the playground and by stealthily reading the backs of boxes in the feminine hygeine products aisle at Shaver's grocery store.
Sunday it was stage two. She asked if I would speak with her in her bedroom. Alone. So we trotted up there and she explained that some girls had teased her about the hair in her armpits. She said, "I didn't realize I was at the age where I was supposed to be shaving! I didn't know it was time."
So, I explained that there is no "time." It doesn't have anything to do with age. It is completely up to her when she shaves or even whether she ever shaves. I really tried to diffuse the peer pressure, but it was too late. She had made up her mind that it was time. Which, I guess, is the way to go about it - wait for it to be her decision.
I did try to beat her little friends to the next one though, and told her to wait on shaving her legs. "In fact," I said, "If you never shave your legs, the hair will stay light and fine. Because as soon as you begin, it comes out like whiskers and then you have no choice." To my pleasure, she had already heard this, and was glad to hear my reinforcement of what someone else's mom had said.
She wanted me to recommend a brand of razor. And I told her what I use. And since I always have extras, I gave her one and popped her into the shower and gave her a 5-minute crash course. She was scared about how to do it, scared of cutting herself. I told her about how to move the razor, how not to ever share or borrow, how some people's skin needs to be wet or it breaks out in a rash.
This stuff is *so* exciting for me. It's silly to be this excited maybe. And I'm not a girly girl by any means, so girl stuff in general usually causes me to roll my eyes. But I can't help but feel a thrill that my little one is not so little anymore.
Good luck my love. Go out into that big world and be who you are!