MENSTRUATION or having a period occurs about a month, although not always regular when it first begins. Other girls you may know may start before or after you. Some girls may find they have longer or shorter periods, and some may have more or fewer day between their periods. Menstruation may also be heavier with some girls than others.
Some girls may have pains or cramps whilst having their periods, or feel irritated. This is because water collects in the body just before a period starts. The best way to preventing these pains is to get plenty of exercise regularly.
You will hear quite a lot of things about periods which are just true-like you shouldn’t swim, or wash your hair, or take a bath. In fact, having a period makes no difference to anything you do except that you need to wear pads (sanitary towels) or tampons to absorb the blood.
More or less fourteen days before menstruation (a period) starts, an egg-cell ripens in one of the varies. The egg cell enters the uterine tube and passes on to the uterus (womb). Here one or two things can happen to the egg-cell-it can be fertilized or it can die. The uterus prepares itself each month for a possible fertilization by thickening its lining. If the egg, which is traveling through the tube, is not fertilized (met by a male sperm), the lining of the uterus is not needed to feed and protect a growing baby and therefore breaks away and passes out of the body through the passage called the vagina, as blood. This is called menstruation. If the egg-cell is fertilized, it moves down to the uterus where it settles in lining of the uterus to develop in to a baby. This is pregnancy and the first sign of pregnancy is usually no menstruation at the expected time.
Although your body is now physically ready to bear children, menstruation does not make you grown up. It takes more time and learning to grow up emotionally to womanhood.
YOUR MIND AND HOW IT DEVELOPS
These are some things each and every one of you will have to face, let’s discuss some of them.
LEARNING TO LIVE WITH PEOPLE: Find out what other people are like. Listen when they talk to you. You might not always agree with what other people say but in the long run you will learn more by being polite None of us can live entirely apart from other people therefore we have to learn to get along with others. On the other hand, most of us want something us want something more than just being “one of crowd” so, we have to make our own way in the world, although, all the time, we are living with others who are busy with their own lives just as we are busy with ours.
When you are with friends, parents or strangers, a good thing to remember is: always treat people with respect and show consideration for their values.
DEALING WITH NEW FEELING: You will find that you feel things more deeply now than you did when you were younger. You may also feel very happy one day and then very down the next. This is normal for your age group because you have not learned how to cope with the hormonal change, which cause these swings in your feelings. When you feel in a very bad mood you sometimes think it will go on forever. But it won’t! Both, happy moods and sad moods come to an end in time.
When you have these strong feelings try to understand them. Think about what causes them. Feelings add richness to your life, but they are not always easy to handle, and we all have to learn to control many of our feelings-like not screaming and yelling when we are angry, or hurting someone else when we feel hurt,
PREPARING TO MAKE YOUR WAY IN THE WORLD: You are now preparing for your future. Whatever you do now, as a teenager, is going to influence what kind of an adult you are going to become. Make the most of all changes you are given to learn new skills-like hobbies, dancing, singing, sport, playing a musical instrument, and so on. Whatever you learn now, may give you pleasure throughout your life.
Angela Inyena Anietie
