Well.....my mom died when I was nine. My dad remarried when I was 11. My new stepmother, who had no children of her own, asked me (and was probably very nervous to do so) if my mother had told me "everything."

"Oh, yes," I said with confidence. Because my mom had told me all about how girls get their periods. And as far as I knew, that was "everything." My stepmother, very relieved, never asked me again.

But I think my dad intervened and suggested to her that I just might be a little more clueless than I'd indicated. So she bought me a book entitled The Stork Didn't Bring You. It contained some appalling information. LOL

On or around 1977. We had sex education classes in grade school. My parents had to sign a consent form so I could attend.

My parents were open and asked if I had any questions, of course I said NO. How embarrassing.

I learned all the good stuff from my friends, but they were WRONG about making a babies!

I had a wonderful neighbor lady who was great. She answered all the kids questions without going into too much detail and made us all feel safe about asking her anything.
I was that neighbor lady when my kids were growing up.

My mother knew she was dying in a matter if weeks as I was approaching that time. She sent my older sister to town with me to buy supplies. She had bought a great book printed by United Press International for our older sister and we all read it to learn the details. Her women's magazines continued coming to the house too for several years, and I picked up some sex education from them. I did not get any lessons at school, but my younger sister benefitted from the new health classes the following year. Taking biology in high school helped me understand a few things too.

We had the film about periods in school but I learned the rest on my own. A combination of Judy Blume books, Cosmo and actually doing it filled in the rest of the blanks.

Nobody told me anything.
I do remember watching the Artificial Inseminator "do it" to the cows in the barn. Does that count? Growing up on a farm gives you an education in many different ways.

Ron

I knew how babies were made before I knew there was no Santa Claus, but was still pretty clueless regarding periods and such. I remember the school nurse giving a talk that was supposed to be sex education, but she handled it like some of the mothers above - "Do you have any questions?" and, of course, no one had any.

Lydia1959, just yesterday I was thinking of those 'feminine belts' My Mom made me several new ones every year. In sanitary products, we've come a long way. Mom prepared me for that time and I knew how babies were made, but when i became PG in the second month of marriage, someone asked me if I didn't do anything to prevent it and I said I didn't know you could. Dottie

The only education we got was, "Just don't do 'it'!"

It's so far back in the Dark Ages that I don't clearly remember the mensturation film. There was more 'discussion' after the Mr. Tooth film! (And, of *course*, the boys and the girls saw separate films.)

I'd already started having periods before the film was presented in 6th Grade. My mother had prepared me, but it was embarrasing because I was told to use the teachers' rest room at school -- I suppose to dispose of the Kotex without 'exposing' this fact of life to other girls. I remember wondering how I'd missed the fact that my mother menstruated.

It wasn't until I had trouble conceiving that I knew that conception occurs, not in the uterus, but in the fallopian tube. (I remember a neighbor surprised to become pregnant with her second child because she was still nursing the first. Old Wives Tales.)

My mom told me very little. I have made sure to talk to my daughters and son about everything. I want them to know they can come to me and talk to me about anything too. So far so good. We talk a lot. They are 20, 19 and 17. At times it has been more info than I want to know but I don't complain at least they're talking to me. I wanted them to have the correct information not just what they hear from their friends.

I remember my mom telling me "Don't ever let a boy get in your pants". This was in the mid 1950s. My reply to her was "No boy could fit into my pants". She told me about periods but not why we get them and she bought me sanitary napkins and those belts before I ever had a period. When I was in high school one of my best friends used tampons and I asked my mo to buy me some. She did but said she couldn't use them because they gave her a headache. I learned about birth control in college by reading women's magazines at the library.

When I was in the fourth grade I had a male teacher. he was the only male teacher in the school. The teachers got a notice to send all the 5th and 6th grade girls to see a film.
He must of misread the notice because he sent us at the appointed time. I knew nothing and was quite confused. i thought it was some kind of illness they were talking about. LOL So when I got home my mom was forced to explain it to me.

I got zilch education about sexual relations and childbirth etc. I had to learn that on my own.

I used to sneak my older brother's Playboys and read them. Thank you Hugh Hefner for being a pioneer in promoting sexual gratification for women. I learned a lot from the Playboy Adviser column. It was meant to help men but it taught me a lot about my own body.

I had a very embarassing experience when I was in sixth grade. We had a big windstorm and our garbage can tipped over and all the trash blew around. I was told to pick it all up. I found some of my mother's used napkins. When I came in, i told her "Somebody must have had an operation". We had already seen the movie in school "Growing Up and Liking It" but I didn't make the connection. I know my Mom had a purple box in her closet marked "Kotex". We bought a female puppy and one day she was dripping blood. I also remember the morning I woke up and found my pajama bottoms full of blood. Very traumatic. My girlfriends later told me exactly what the sex act was. Dumb little girl I was! Wish Mom had given me a detailed book to read. I loved books and I had a library card. At that age I had read Little Women, Wuthering Heights, and always read my mother's Redbook magazines.

In 6th grade the boys and girls were separated and each group had "the talk". I know the girls got to watch "Growing Up and Liking It". Don't remember much more than a talk about periods. It would be another 2+ years before I could put any of the info to practical use. Not sure what the boys saw or talked about that day. Probably baseball. :-)

I still have all the little Kimberly-Clarke/Kotex booklets that were handed out that day in 1965.

Jodi-