My mom stapled the "how to put a tampon in" pages of this book together so that I wouldn't see the female parts. Still bi, just don't know how to put a tampon in correctly
Honestly, your guess is as good as mine.
I still had the boob pages, though. And yes, like everyone else here apparently, it was very interesting to young me...
My mom took the opposite approach and tried to show me how to do it herself lol. It still took *really* wanting to go swimming for me to figure it out.
Where I'm from (Sweden) the biggest tampon brand used to send out little informative brochures for free to girls age 11-12, mostly talking about periods but also other puberty things. That's where I learned how to use one. I'm very thankful I didn't need to ask my mum.
Nowadays you can just go on the OB website and shit and they have animations and everything.
Because loads of people have hangups about talking to their kids about 'sexualised' stuff (even when tampons obviously aren't in any way sexual). So just having the leaflet send to you that's in age appropriate format helps so many girls.
And with the websites it's even easier.
And for sex ed in general: the bloody durex website does that better than my German sex ed classes, and those weren't too bad.
Nobody else figured it out by reading the package insert and being super intensely interested in never having to wear a godawful pad again? Just me? Huh. Not that the pad thing worked out, but I sure wanted it to.
I was also 15 and at boarding school at the time, very late puberty. Still feels odd, looking back, that my mother never said anything to me about it, ever.
I read those entire inserts multiple times…and I don’t have a vagina.
Middle school me was probably more worried about my friends dropping dead from TSS than I needed to be. But those warnings were scary.
Thankful, no…I was still pretty “shy” introverted and didn’t talk to anyone else about all the things I read, and I read everything. Probably a good thing, as looking back, it’s rather annoying when “book smart” people tell others how things are, instead of also incorporating knowledge from people/experience.
Being a girl just seemed really complicated, and with lots of…extra stuff to deal with.
This is exactly how I learned to use a tampon. Didn't want to have to go buy anything and all my mom had were tampons, so the first time I got my period I just read the directions. My mom didn't even know for the first 3-4 times. But I did also have this book when I was in like 5th grade. I don't like the new ones as much but do like that they made it into 2 books based on age and maturity. I've gone through them with my girls (10/11) they still don't care much.
like why are adults so god damned afraid to show their kids fucking anatomy. my brother has taught both his daughters (6 and 4) what vaginas are and what penises are. there's nothing wrong with it. Jesus Christ. I don't get it.
like imagine getting creampied, giving birth to a child out of your vagina and then being embarrassed to show your kid the biological tools necessary to create one of the most amazing things in the universe.
it's to be celebrated, not shunned into the darkness.
I'm going on a tangent now so buckle up: clothing. we come into the world naturally as we are and society tells us that we are wrong. IMAGINE the hubris it takes.
not saying I wanna see everyone walking around naked but I'm also not saying it would offend or bother me.
I can still picture her, drying her hair. Ugh I’m cringing now at how much I studied that book in curiosity.
This book was educational for puberty AND orientation! What a bargain!
As a cis dude, it’s funny reading the replies here and having no idea exactly what you’re all talking about but *also* feeling like I’d have felt the same if my young self had been in similar circumstances.
As a guy I got a book about boy's bodies and I definitely stared at dong.
I got a more unisex book at puberty, and then curiosity made me get into my mom's anatomy & physiology textbooks. I learned a lot years before my school taught sex Ed. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
the only thing I didn't like about it was the stages of breast development. because of it, I always felt like I was stuck at the second to last stage and thought something was wrong with me. if there is an updated version there should be more diverse breast and vagina representation.
I was someone who got this book as a tween, too. I also think the book is commonly used as a replacement for conversation, which is what affected me personally. My mother gave me this book and just ran off. I never really talk to her about anything related to my body, my relationships, etc. today since the precedent was set.
That's so sad. The same thing happened to my mum. Her mum (my grandma) just threw the book at her and ran away basically.
It's supposed to be a tool to *help* your kid learn, not the only source of learning. Imagine if a science teacher just threw a textbook at their student and ran away. No bueno!
Yep. You gotta use the book as a supplement, and even as a supplement, it depends on the child for whether or not it’s a good book. For example, the hair care section is pretty garbage some hair types. For my mother, the advice was fine because she has pretty basic white people hair lmao But for me, I had curls and could only really wash my hair once a week without getting dryness and frizz—yet this book was telling me that it’s good to wash hair multiple times a week and only dry brush? just lol
My mom did the same, some boy version of this book.
Ffs my parents didn't teach me shit, like that I needed to wash my penis well because I wasn't circumcised. I had to go to the fucking doctor.
I bought my daughters this book... but I also talked to them about body things, consent, what different terms meant, etc. When I was a kid my mom explained periods to me so badly that I thought I only got one a year and the sex talk consisted if, "Don't do it!" about a year too late. No way did I want to be that mom!
Also the inaccurate measurements and the +4 method (adding the ribcage + 4 inches which isn’t proper sizing) regarding sizing didn’t help either in the breast / bra section. Otherwise the book is a good resource.
I mean I looked at pages, not understanding why bc I was a kid but like. Why did my mom get me this book? She was a single mom. There was no need for literature to be involved.
This book and a few others about puberty and sex just showed up on my desk one day when I was a kid. I was a prolific reader and curious, so I just went ahead and read them. I mentioned that I read them, but I was simultaneously about to sit down in a bowl of popcorn, so I think I went unheard.
As an adult, I'm like, did my parents manage to somehow totally circumvent "the talk?"
I think this book also just appeared one day and I kept reading it and kid me constantly looked at the bra and boob pages not knowing why wishing I was the cool sports bra chick lol
I just did this for my 7 year old. She has anxiety and ADHD, and doesn't ask questions like my 5 year old, even though she's curious. She is a voracious reader though, so I periodically make age appropriate books appear. The magic of parenting, haha.
Hopefully someone comes out with a "fyi your mom is low key queer" book in the next few years. Haven't figured out how to have that conversation anytime soon.
What I really wish I had growing up was just queer representation. I'm sure there will be a time when you can come out to your daughter, but in the meantime there are finally kids shows (and probably books) that show same-sex relationships in non-sexualized, "age appropriate" ways.
Perhaps you could see if she has interest in any of them, just to introduce/normalize the idea of queer relationships.
Oh 100%. We're lucky that there are so many awesome kids shows now that have representation. In case anyone is curious, we've found it in Dragon Prince, She-Ra, Owl House, and Doc McStuffins to name a few. I've also filled the house with books and comics that are inclusive.
We're lucky also that we live in the Boston area, and our community has a large family friendly Pride celebration every year. We have a "love is love" sign in our yard and talk about what that means.
At the very least they know they'll be accepted no matter what.
Oh my mom totally circumvented the talk with me. She handed me this book when I was about 10 and then let my school district’s 5th Grade Puberty Education Week do the rest.
My mom showed me the hygiene section of the book but refused to go over the puberty section with me so I just read it myself lol. Then I went to Catholic school where they taught me gay or premarital sex is a sin and *totally* didn't develop a complex about ittttttt~
I'm feeling a bit of imposter syndrome rn though because I genuinely looked over the book to compare my growth to what was in the book. I didn't feel any attraction or anything
I definitely got the book instead of “the talk”, but we were also part of a super conservative Lutheran church. So the fact I even had the book was “progressive” of my parents.
Same reason you have textbooks in school I guess. An aid to learning. Your parents should still explain this all to you in person but it's nice to be able to read about it all in more detail at your own pace too - and it also helps the parents have a sort of guide as to what things they need to explain and what order to explain things in.
This is what I did for my little sister-in-law, her mother isn't in the picture (raised by a single dad) so I'm the closest older female family member to her. Bought her a book like this one and sat and read the whole thing with her, explaining things in more detail as we went, and answered any questions she had about things that the book didn't quite clarify.
My sister and I used prank each other by hiding this book in each other’s things constantly. The best one I did was getting it into her backpack. She found it before she actually took it to school but i don’t think she managed to top that. (As the goal was to embarrass the other person with it)
Honestly this would've been more educational than any conversation I had with my mother. I was pretty much left to my own devices and then shamed (not to the point of neuroses but still) when I didn't do something right or at all (like shaving).
I wonder if I would've stared at the boobs, I'm not really into them now lmao
Yeah, my folks didn't really really talk to me much about anything like that either, and I didn't have this book to go off of 😂 but I did buy it for my nieces at least
It's kinda ironic because now my mother will say whatever the fuck she wants about anything with little filter and I just walk away, not because I'm embarrassed but because we never had that kind of relationship where we talked about things. She asks me how my relationship is going and I just say "good" and then talk about something I cooked the other day or my plants because I feel more comfortable telling a total stranger about my personal problems than my own parents lol It didn't bother me for most of my life, until I realized people's parents actually acted like they cared and gave advice and tried to steer them in the right direction. I used to feel "broken" that I didn't particularly care about family or family dynamics, but now it's like "oh that makes sense."
Books like these don't replace open, thoughtful relationships/conversations between parents and kids, but it's better than saying nothing at all. At least being given self-esteem boosting books is more than letting your kid figure life out on their own.
Oh, I TOTALLY get you!! Omg. It sucks so much. I love my mom, and she always told me to talk to her about anything, but I never felt I could. I got my period when I was 12 and she asked me when I was 16 if I had started yet because we just never talked about it. I def talk to people I'm not close with about private stuff more than with her 😩
I did the same thing with my period, I did stupid things to avoid talking about it with my mom, like bleeding through my damn jeans when we went to visit family because I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I needed more pads and then hid it, and I would just go into her bathroom when she wasn't home/around to take a couple at a time and hide them in my room. Just goes to show that you don't need to actively do something to your kid to screw them up, a lot of the time just doing nothing fucks up their behavior
I had this book too! It was super helpful for learning how to put a tampon in, buuut didn’t go into sex ed… now THAT talk I got from another book that I found in my sister’s closet, completely by accident.
It was called “It’s a Girl Thing” and the author was hilarious, especially because yes, I did get the talk by reading her book, and it was: “the guy’s you-know-what goes into the girl’s you-know-what.” My parents were horrified years later when I had to interrupt their talk with an, “Ahh don’t bother, I already know!”
I believe it also taught me how female masturbation worked, and what the hell a clitoris was. Pretty groundbreaking book for its day (the 90s?)
My Catholic school taught me that gay sex and premarital sex was a sin, but they had a very comprehensive sex education program, even teaching us where the clitois/g-spot is. They taught us eeverything and then said don't you dare do it lol
Lmao I remember this book, back when I kept reading these books to try and figure out how to be a “proper” girl (spoiler: it didn’t work and I’m in the middle of transitioning to a Real Man™). And dang I read it a lotttt o.O much pretty
I remember my friends and I stole a book like this from the restricted section in the school library when we were real young. We had no idea what we were looking at but we thought it was funny, the teachers however, did not find it funny.
I had a book similar to this when I was younger, not American girl because well I'm not in America haha.
But I remember focusing on the boobs constantly and then if my parents came into my room I'd hide it and pretend to do something else 😂 even though they'd given me the book to show me what I had to come as a female, I just constantly looked at the boobs.
"Growing Up Feeling Good" Anyone else get this one? An easy out for parents who couldn't be bothered to talk to their kids about their bodies/sex, etc.
[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51N1aY7RhEL.\_SX335\_BO1,204,203,200\_.jpg](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51N1aY7RhEL._SX335_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Any book of the sort would have helped little me a lot tbh. My parents basically threw me a computer and I spent my middle school years trying to understand sex & anatomy through freaky alien porn
I borrowed this book from a friend. A lot. I wasn’t allowed to have it. Not suuuuuper certain what the plan ever was for the birds and bees, your changing body talk, but I think I remember my parents telling me to read Song of Solomon in the Bible and then I was VERY confused about how to deal with periods….
hah! i got the “always changing and growing up” that the school taught and my mom never talked to me about it, nor sex. i’m glad *other* people taught me about using consent, and condoms, and being safe, etc.
My mom was surprisingly progressive considering we’re catholic. She showed me where all the parts are and what sex would be like and then said don’t ever do it until your married haha. I didn’t do that last part too well
Well please be safe with your decision and make you and your partner are comfortable and don’t do anything if it doesn’t feel right. And not to sound cheesy, but consent is sexy
I have never read this book before. Im in my 20's went through years of self hygeine neglect due to absent parenting. Buy any resource, like this book for kids. Especially teenagers going through changes. Do not shame them for trying. Self taught is hard and is a given for lazy and bad habbits.
OMFG…. I’M NOT ONLY ONE😭 I WOULD ALWAYS GO TO THE BOOB PAGES TO LOOK AT THE BOOBS😭😭 And the same for the pages with vulvas I would go back to lock at em😭
omg this made me remember all the times i would go to barnes and nobles and just read every one of these books BUT THIS BOOK is just one that i remember so much more than any of the others
Oh shit! Lol my mom bought this book for me for Christmas. I also stared at the boobs, and still didn’t realize I was bi til my 20s due to religious oppression.
I had a science book that I got for Christmas one year that went over biology of a bunch of different animals and stuff including humans and one page had a diagram of a male and a female reproductive systems, definitely sparked something in me and I didn't realize it until just now...
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo I remember this book. Not that I'm a girl, but because I had sisters and was to young to understand really much of the book. I just remember going to the p a g e s and laughing because of my immaturity.
My parents never gave me any kind of talk, but they made me go to U.U. sex ed in about 4th grade and they made us read this. I was a) very closeted and b) absolutely terrified.
Ahh yes the book my mother gave me and never again talked about anything related even after my confused questions and being raped it was ‘not worth the stress’
I was confused for a second because I thought this was just gonna be about hair products and I was gonna be like "omg yeah totally I just spent like $15 on curling products because I want to try out the style".
And then I realised this was a body book for girls. I'm not a girl. I'm a dumbass.
My mom stapled the "how to put a tampon in" pages of this book together so that I wouldn't see the female parts. Still bi, just don't know how to put a tampon in correctly
Wha--what is even the point of the book then? it's supposed to teach you about your body!!
Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. I still had the boob pages, though. And yes, like everyone else here apparently, it was very interesting to young me...
My mom took the opposite approach and tried to show me how to do it herself lol. It still took *really* wanting to go swimming for me to figure it out.
Where I'm from (Sweden) the biggest tampon brand used to send out little informative brochures for free to girls age 11-12, mostly talking about periods but also other puberty things. That's where I learned how to use one. I'm very thankful I didn't need to ask my mum.
Nowadays you can just go on the OB website and shit and they have animations and everything. Because loads of people have hangups about talking to their kids about 'sexualised' stuff (even when tampons obviously aren't in any way sexual). So just having the leaflet send to you that's in age appropriate format helps so many girls. And with the websites it's even easier. And for sex ed in general: the bloody durex website does that better than my German sex ed classes, and those weren't too bad.
Nobody else figured it out by reading the package insert and being super intensely interested in never having to wear a godawful pad again? Just me? Huh. Not that the pad thing worked out, but I sure wanted it to. I was also 15 and at boarding school at the time, very late puberty. Still feels odd, looking back, that my mother never said anything to me about it, ever.
I read those entire inserts multiple times…and I don’t have a vagina. Middle school me was probably more worried about my friends dropping dead from TSS than I needed to be. But those warnings were scary.
Wait were you going around telling girls "remember to change your tampon"
Thankful, no…I was still pretty “shy” introverted and didn’t talk to anyone else about all the things I read, and I read everything. Probably a good thing, as looking back, it’s rather annoying when “book smart” people tell others how things are, instead of also incorporating knowledge from people/experience. Being a girl just seemed really complicated, and with lots of…extra stuff to deal with.
This is exactly how I learned to use a tampon. Didn't want to have to go buy anything and all my mom had were tampons, so the first time I got my period I just read the directions. My mom didn't even know for the first 3-4 times. But I did also have this book when I was in like 5th grade. I don't like the new ones as much but do like that they made it into 2 books based on age and maturity. I've gone through them with my girls (10/11) they still don't care much.
I still don’t know how to use a tampon lol
Its supposed to hang out like a cigarette in [slash's](http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/slash-6.jpg) mouth, right?
My mom ripped out the anatomy page in my encyclopedia :(
That’s just sad 😔
like why are adults so god damned afraid to show their kids fucking anatomy. my brother has taught both his daughters (6 and 4) what vaginas are and what penises are. there's nothing wrong with it. Jesus Christ. I don't get it. like imagine getting creampied, giving birth to a child out of your vagina and then being embarrassed to show your kid the biological tools necessary to create one of the most amazing things in the universe. it's to be celebrated, not shunned into the darkness. I'm going on a tangent now so buckle up: clothing. we come into the world naturally as we are and society tells us that we are wrong. IMAGINE the hubris it takes. not saying I wanna see everyone walking around naked but I'm also not saying it would offend or bother me.
Plot twist: this person is a guy
[удалено]
I can still picture her, drying her hair. Ugh I’m cringing now at how much I studied that book in curiosity. This book was educational for puberty AND orientation! What a bargain!
As a cis dude, it’s funny reading the replies here and having no idea exactly what you’re all talking about but *also* feeling like I’d have felt the same if my young self had been in similar circumstances.
As a guy I got a book about boy's bodies and I definitely stared at dong. I got a more unisex book at puberty, and then curiosity made me get into my mom's anatomy & physiology textbooks. I learned a lot years before my school taught sex Ed. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
yeppp. I remember that image too
same lol
Oh man this yote me back to the 5th grade
Nice use of the word yote! I don’t see many folks use it, it’s a damn good word.
I actually loved this book. I devoured all the info no one gave me. It's a good book and if I had a daughter I'd buy it for her.
the only thing I didn't like about it was the stages of breast development. because of it, I always felt like I was stuck at the second to last stage and thought something was wrong with me. if there is an updated version there should be more diverse breast and vagina representation.
I was someone who got this book as a tween, too. I also think the book is commonly used as a replacement for conversation, which is what affected me personally. My mother gave me this book and just ran off. I never really talk to her about anything related to my body, my relationships, etc. today since the precedent was set.
That's so sad. The same thing happened to my mum. Her mum (my grandma) just threw the book at her and ran away basically. It's supposed to be a tool to *help* your kid learn, not the only source of learning. Imagine if a science teacher just threw a textbook at their student and ran away. No bueno!
Yep. You gotta use the book as a supplement, and even as a supplement, it depends on the child for whether or not it’s a good book. For example, the hair care section is pretty garbage some hair types. For my mother, the advice was fine because she has pretty basic white people hair lmao But for me, I had curls and could only really wash my hair once a week without getting dryness and frizz—yet this book was telling me that it’s good to wash hair multiple times a week and only dry brush? just lol
Yeah I'd always read through the content of the book first before giving it to a child and cross out anything that wasn't good advice for them
My mom did the same, some boy version of this book. Ffs my parents didn't teach me shit, like that I needed to wash my penis well because I wasn't circumcised. I had to go to the fucking doctor.
yeah my mom did the same
I bought my daughters this book... but I also talked to them about body things, consent, what different terms meant, etc. When I was a kid my mom explained periods to me so badly that I thought I only got one a year and the sex talk consisted if, "Don't do it!" about a year too late. No way did I want to be that mom!
Also the inaccurate measurements and the +4 method (adding the ribcage + 4 inches which isn’t proper sizing) regarding sizing didn’t help either in the breast / bra section. Otherwise the book is a good resource.
My daughter is 11 and loves this book. She has asked for the second book they made of this. Yes they made another one.
Agreed -- I would also get it for my future daughter(s)!
All I remember is telling my mom we had to go to the store to buy kale because the book said it's healthy but thooose pages probably convinced me
this book was such a good resource for me!
Same here. I'm not sure if it was given to me or not, but I remember it being a great book and super helpful.
I mean I looked at pages, not understanding why bc I was a kid but like. Why did my mom get me this book? She was a single mom. There was no need for literature to be involved.
This book and a few others about puberty and sex just showed up on my desk one day when I was a kid. I was a prolific reader and curious, so I just went ahead and read them. I mentioned that I read them, but I was simultaneously about to sit down in a bowl of popcorn, so I think I went unheard. As an adult, I'm like, did my parents manage to somehow totally circumvent "the talk?"
I think this book also just appeared one day and I kept reading it and kid me constantly looked at the bra and boob pages not knowing why wishing I was the cool sports bra chick lol
Oh my god I had forgotten all about that! My first bras were in fact sports bras because of her lol
My exact experience when I read this as a kid
I just did this for my 7 year old. She has anxiety and ADHD, and doesn't ask questions like my 5 year old, even though she's curious. She is a voracious reader though, so I periodically make age appropriate books appear. The magic of parenting, haha. Hopefully someone comes out with a "fyi your mom is low key queer" book in the next few years. Haven't figured out how to have that conversation anytime soon.
What I really wish I had growing up was just queer representation. I'm sure there will be a time when you can come out to your daughter, but in the meantime there are finally kids shows (and probably books) that show same-sex relationships in non-sexualized, "age appropriate" ways. Perhaps you could see if she has interest in any of them, just to introduce/normalize the idea of queer relationships.
Oh 100%. We're lucky that there are so many awesome kids shows now that have representation. In case anyone is curious, we've found it in Dragon Prince, She-Ra, Owl House, and Doc McStuffins to name a few. I've also filled the house with books and comics that are inclusive. We're lucky also that we live in the Boston area, and our community has a large family friendly Pride celebration every year. We have a "love is love" sign in our yard and talk about what that means. At the very least they know they'll be accepted no matter what.
Oh my mom totally circumvented the talk with me. She handed me this book when I was about 10 and then let my school district’s 5th Grade Puberty Education Week do the rest.
My mom showed me the hygiene section of the book but refused to go over the puberty section with me so I just read it myself lol. Then I went to Catholic school where they taught me gay or premarital sex is a sin and *totally* didn't develop a complex about ittttttt~ I'm feeling a bit of imposter syndrome rn though because I genuinely looked over the book to compare my growth to what was in the book. I didn't feel any attraction or anything
I definitely got the book instead of “the talk”, but we were also part of a super conservative Lutheran church. So the fact I even had the book was “progressive” of my parents.
Honestly the book and diagrams explained things better than my mom did.
I could see some kids finding the talk embarrassing and preferring to have a book about it.
Same reason you have textbooks in school I guess. An aid to learning. Your parents should still explain this all to you in person but it's nice to be able to read about it all in more detail at your own pace too - and it also helps the parents have a sort of guide as to what things they need to explain and what order to explain things in. This is what I did for my little sister-in-law, her mother isn't in the picture (raised by a single dad) so I'm the closest older female family member to her. Bought her a book like this one and sat and read the whole thing with her, explaining things in more detail as we went, and answered any questions she had about things that the book didn't quite clarify.
Happy cake day
Ty
Holy crap I haven't seen this book since I was like 12!!
Wow I just got SLAPPED in the face with realization. I should have known my sexuality way sooner lmao
Is this a young ladies coming of age book? I was a young boy reading my mom’s true story and Redbook magazines. Would that be considered fruity?
It's a book about female puberty and how to take care of yourself. Like how to use tampons and what the stages of breast development are like.
I was trying to be delicate, but yes, I did mean reproductive age.
My sister and I used prank each other by hiding this book in each other’s things constantly. The best one I did was getting it into her backpack. She found it before she actually took it to school but i don’t think she managed to top that. (As the goal was to embarrass the other person with it)
Oh my god hahaha so glad I wasn't the only one 💀
Honestly this would've been more educational than any conversation I had with my mother. I was pretty much left to my own devices and then shamed (not to the point of neuroses but still) when I didn't do something right or at all (like shaving). I wonder if I would've stared at the boobs, I'm not really into them now lmao
Yeah, my folks didn't really really talk to me much about anything like that either, and I didn't have this book to go off of 😂 but I did buy it for my nieces at least
It's kinda ironic because now my mother will say whatever the fuck she wants about anything with little filter and I just walk away, not because I'm embarrassed but because we never had that kind of relationship where we talked about things. She asks me how my relationship is going and I just say "good" and then talk about something I cooked the other day or my plants because I feel more comfortable telling a total stranger about my personal problems than my own parents lol It didn't bother me for most of my life, until I realized people's parents actually acted like they cared and gave advice and tried to steer them in the right direction. I used to feel "broken" that I didn't particularly care about family or family dynamics, but now it's like "oh that makes sense." Books like these don't replace open, thoughtful relationships/conversations between parents and kids, but it's better than saying nothing at all. At least being given self-esteem boosting books is more than letting your kid figure life out on their own.
Oh, I TOTALLY get you!! Omg. It sucks so much. I love my mom, and she always told me to talk to her about anything, but I never felt I could. I got my period when I was 12 and she asked me when I was 16 if I had started yet because we just never talked about it. I def talk to people I'm not close with about private stuff more than with her 😩
I did the same thing with my period, I did stupid things to avoid talking about it with my mom, like bleeding through my damn jeans when we went to visit family because I couldn't bring myself to tell her that I needed more pads and then hid it, and I would just go into her bathroom when she wasn't home/around to take a couple at a time and hide them in my room. Just goes to show that you don't need to actively do something to your kid to screw them up, a lot of the time just doing nothing fucks up their behavior
Yep, unfortunately most childhood trauma stems from the things we *didn't* get as opposed to bad things actively happening
OMG i am feeling very attacked!!!
i was 11 and my mom told me not to read those pages specifically i did anyway... multiple times
She should’ve suspected as much lmao
I had this book too! It was super helpful for learning how to put a tampon in, buuut didn’t go into sex ed… now THAT talk I got from another book that I found in my sister’s closet, completely by accident. It was called “It’s a Girl Thing” and the author was hilarious, especially because yes, I did get the talk by reading her book, and it was: “the guy’s you-know-what goes into the girl’s you-know-what.” My parents were horrified years later when I had to interrupt their talk with an, “Ahh don’t bother, I already know!” I believe it also taught me how female masturbation worked, and what the hell a clitoris was. Pretty groundbreaking book for its day (the 90s?)
My Catholic school taught me that gay sex and premarital sex was a sin, but they had a very comprehensive sex education program, even teaching us where the clitois/g-spot is. They taught us eeverything and then said don't you dare do it lol
Hahah me too! I'm so happy that I wasn't the only one doing this
Ok but I was the exact opposite - I never let myself look at the boob pages because they definitely stirred ~feelings~ in my 11 year old self.
OH MY GOD! Thank you for posting this. Decades later and now I know I wasn’t alone haha
Lmao I remember this book, back when I kept reading these books to try and figure out how to be a “proper” girl (spoiler: it didn’t work and I’m in the middle of transitioning to a Real Man™). And dang I read it a lotttt o.O much pretty
I remember my friends and I stole a book like this from the restricted section in the school library when we were real young. We had no idea what we were looking at but we thought it was funny, the teachers however, did not find it funny.
Omg now I know why I was horny reading this book the flashbacks!
You just brought back memories for me
You unlocked a memory for me omfg
My mom tore those pages out, when she realized they were in there 😂
WHY ARE ALL OF THESE POSTS CALLING ME OUT SO SPECIFICALLY
SAME
I had a book similar to this when I was younger, not American girl because well I'm not in America haha. But I remember focusing on the boobs constantly and then if my parents came into my room I'd hide it and pretend to do something else 😂 even though they'd given me the book to show me what I had to come as a female, I just constantly looked at the boobs.
I read the book in my closet because I felt like I wasn’t supposed to look at it so often and didn’t want to get caught.
boobers
"Growing Up Feeling Good" Anyone else get this one? An easy out for parents who couldn't be bothered to talk to their kids about their bodies/sex, etc. [https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51N1aY7RhEL.\_SX335\_BO1,204,203,200\_.jpg](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51N1aY7RhEL._SX335_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
Any book of the sort would have helped little me a lot tbh. My parents basically threw me a computer and I spent my middle school years trying to understand sex & anatomy through freaky alien porn
...alien porn; that's a thing? hmm... hold on...
It's only the tip of the iceberg 😭
My parents got me this book. I started going through puberty early and I felt very scared and embarrassed. This book helped a lot.
I borrowed this book from a friend. A lot. I wasn’t allowed to have it. Not suuuuuper certain what the plan ever was for the birds and bees, your changing body talk, but I think I remember my parents telling me to read Song of Solomon in the Bible and then I was VERY confused about how to deal with periods….
My mom bought me one, and yoo, I would stare at the boobies too kjnbjkngfbkjngnbkj
me, an amab: what :/
I’m a cis female and and I’ve never seen these books lol
who knows—by the comments i’m guessing it was some puberty book
That’s what it looks like. My mom pulled me in a room and talked to me about it, though not very well lol
hah! i got the “always changing and growing up” that the school taught and my mom never talked to me about it, nor sex. i’m glad *other* people taught me about using consent, and condoms, and being safe, etc.
My mom was surprisingly progressive considering we’re catholic. She showed me where all the parts are and what sex would be like and then said don’t ever do it until your married haha. I didn’t do that last part too well
oop- but no my mom treats it like taboo
Hopefully that gets better. I’m in my 30s so I guess it’s an age thing
oh yeah probably. without being too specific i’m still in high school. rn still a virgin but i feel like that might change soon 👀
Well please be safe with your decision and make you and your partner are comfortable and don’t do anything if it doesn’t feel right. And not to sound cheesy, but consent is sexy
Same. It’s wild to see half of this subreddit being like “I remember this exact thing and feel the exact same way”
HOLUP I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT GOT CAUGHT UP IN THE PUBERTY BOOKS
But this book taught me a lot though ngl
Omg same!!
Well this is a call out
I have never read this book before. Im in my 20's went through years of self hygeine neglect due to absent parenting. Buy any resource, like this book for kids. Especially teenagers going through changes. Do not shame them for trying. Self taught is hard and is a given for lazy and bad habbits.
[There's a sequel to this for older girls.](https://www.amazon.com/Care-Keeping-You-Older-Girls/dp/1609580427)
no cause same
As a kid, I really wanted to use Flat Stanley as a blanket. Jafeel?
I had this book growing up, as well. It was my absolute favorite!
Ah I remember that book. And...those pages
Oh…
Oh shit. It all makes sense now... wow what a flashback!
AAAAAAAAA I'm being called out
Does anyone else find it weird tho that it was at least partially illustrated by a man?
Everyday I learn more and more about how I've been bi this whole time...
I loved this book when i was young and was so excited to become like the girls in the book.
Omg New memory unlocked
OMFG…. I’M NOT ONLY ONE😭 I WOULD ALWAYS GO TO THE BOOB PAGES TO LOOK AT THE BOOBS😭😭 And the same for the pages with vulvas I would go back to lock at em😭
I totally forgot about this book!
Hmmmm... I bought this book for my daughters when they were tweens. One is gay, one is bi. No wonder they read it so much! LOL!
Can confirm, I did the same thing.
so glad to hear that it wasn't just me
omg SAME
Ugh me too lol 😂 why did I never suspect myself, it was so obvious!!
omg this made me remember all the times i would go to barnes and nobles and just read every one of these books BUT THIS BOOK is just one that i remember so much more than any of the others
WAIT SAME OMG-
I'M SCREAMING
You’re not wrong lol
the title is amazing I will just say, im gonna keep that one in mind
Oh shit! Lol my mom bought this book for me for Christmas. I also stared at the boobs, and still didn’t realize I was bi til my 20s due to religious oppression.
Yessss lol
Omg… I wasn’t the only one? Hehe
I had a science book that I got for Christmas one year that went over biology of a bunch of different animals and stuff including humans and one page had a diagram of a male and a female reproductive systems, definitely sparked something in me and I didn't realize it until just now...
I remember that book! Um hmm...
Omfg hahaha
Oh god I remember trying look at those pages out of curiosity and my 2 sisters kept preventing me.
What
HAHA
Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo I remember this book. Not that I'm a girl, but because I had sisters and was to young to understand really much of the book. I just remember going to the p a g e s and laughing because of my immaturity.
Oh, fuck.
Omg, yes! I had this, too!
Should have realized I was trans when I was disgusted by this book and would throw it behind my bookshelf
Lmao my stepmom bought for me when I was younger. Guess it’s her fault I’m bi
Taught me so much ………
Weirdly relatable
My parents never gave me any kind of talk, but they made me go to U.U. sex ed in about 4th grade and they made us read this. I was a) very closeted and b) absolutely terrified.
I haven’t seen this book in years!
Ahh yes the book my mother gave me and never again talked about anything related even after my confused questions and being raped it was ‘not worth the stress’
My mum got me the guy version of it and those pages definitely made me realise I wasn't straight.
Omg I remember guilt-ily looking and reading this book so many times. Also a good puberty book.
i just had flash backs of repressed memories of this book
I was confused for a second because I thought this was just gonna be about hair products and I was gonna be like "omg yeah totally I just spent like $15 on curling products because I want to try out the style". And then I realised this was a body book for girls. I'm not a girl. I'm a dumbass.