Periods aren’t exactly in a single dad’s wheelhouse. But as long as they’re willing to get help, they can make sure their teen daughters navigate their first months of menstruating without any issues. One dad took to Reddit to crowdsource suggestions from the internet, and the results were absolutely heartwarming.
“I’m a single dad and my daughter (soon to be 13) has just started her first period. Luckily, she was at a friend’s house and managed to get hold of a few pads but we don’t really have anything at home,” the dad wrote in a post titled “Hello Reddit, my teenage daughter has just started her first period. What do I do?” in the “No Stupid Questions” subreddit.
He continued, “What do I need to be doing? Pads, tampons or cups? Different things for different situations? Should I just buy different products in different levels of absorbency and let her figure out what’s comfortable? Should I have a specific pain relief on hand or just hot water bottles?”
Now that’s a good dad. And the advice, of course, started rolling in right away from caring internet strangers.
Love that you’re asking this and you’ve got sound advice already. Here’s my take,” one person wrote.
“Get her a little period care stash. Things I would have wanted are Pads (medium + heavy OR medium + night-time). Baby wipes (fragrance free. NOT makeup wipes). Ibuprofen or similar. Hot water bottle. Hot water bottle. If you want to go the extra mile I’d add a couple of bars of her favourite chocolate and maybe a new pack of basic underwear in case she’s thrown out a pair or two. What’s her school bag like? She might want a little sponge bag to place inside it where she can store her menstrual products discretely. I use a little fabric drawstring bag.”
That commenter continued, “Next it’s going to be important to figure out a top-up system for when she needs more products. This will probably depend a lot on how independent she is and whether the topic feels awkward to her (which is natural even though there’s nothing to be embarrassed about). She might want you to just pick up a new packet of pads as part of your grocery shop once a month. She might want you to leave the shopping list where she can see it so she can just write on it what she wants. She might prefer you give her a little extra money so she can pick up products for herself. Use your best judgement or ask her.”
They also noted the importance of giving her some dedicated bathroom space for her products and getting a good laundry detergent for when accidents inevitably happen. All the bases were covered in that comment.
Another commenter stepped in to add, “I wanted to add to this, just as an aside, buy a couple of mattress protectors to switch out if you haven’t already got some. Useful for if leaks happen, it won’t stain the mattress, they don’t have to be waterproof ones.”
Another dad commented with another important note of advice.
“Hey Dad, Dad here,” he wrote. “If your daughter is in a lot of pain (ie 2 ibuprofen) does absolutely nothing for her take note and get medical advice because things like endometriosis could be an issue.”
And this dad shared what he did for his daughter:
“Went straight to the store and got her pads… my gf gave her one of the stuffed animals you can microwave and put on her belly for cramps… set off a confetti cannon in the house and told her congratulations lol. She loved it.”
Overall, the single dad who wrote the original post came away with tons of great advice — we don’t even have any recommendations we’d add! This is how you assemble a village to make sure your child has the best.
