Too young?

[jimmysmummy]

DSD came back from spending a week at her mum's (the longest she's spent there for over 2 years) with a Dolly magazine.

I personally think that Dolly is too trashy and old for a 9 year old- but this particular one had a mini magazine all about periods attached to it.

I don't know if this was her mum's way of explaining the changes that young girls go through...if so, I think it's in very poor taste.

What do you girls think? It's not possible that her mum didn't notice it, as it was attached to the front of the mag with PERIOD written in huge font. That, and the fact that Tiffany is very immature, both physically and emotionally (and I don't mean that in a nasty way- it's true).

ETA- this is probably in the wrong section. Mods, feel free to move it.

[Kristie 1983]

hmmm I personally would not be buying my daughter that mag at such a young age, its more teenage orientated really!
Maybe it was her way of trying to be mom and explain the period topic, if she doesn't have alot of contact then maybe she just has no clue how to raise a girl!
I have heard though its better to talk about things like sex, periods etc when they are young so it doesn't seem like an embarrassing topic!
My 8 yr old knows pretty much everything about her womanly topics....maybe you could follow up the mag with a little chat about what Tiffany thinks about the booklet and mag in general and ask if she has any questions etc

[jimmysmummy]

She already knew a bit about periods, after seeing my pads in amongst the nappies on the clothesline but we had a bood discussion about it tonight....she asked me what happened when I first got mine, and I told her the story...she asked me when I first used a tampon as well. I was actually quite surprised at how maturely and matter-of-factly she participated in the conversation.

I think you're right about her mum having no clue about girls- she has 3 older boys and no other girls.

[Knittychick]

Probably too young for the Dolly mag. I haven't looked at one for a very long time though. lol But from memory there used to be a reasonable amount of sex related talk in them. I'm sure there is a more apropriate tween mag,possibly called Girlfriend?
As for the period booklet, my Mum gave me a period/sex booklet when I was 7.
By 9 I would think she should have been spoken to about such things. I'd already discussed periods with my boys by that age. Though I didn't ever really go out of my way to discuss things like that. I was just honest and open when questions were asked etc.

[aussieclownfish]

Hmm... I would say a Dolly magazine would be far too old for a 9yo. It's aimed at 14-17 year olds.

And you are right... it's pretty trashy anyway and I certainly won't be buying it for my daughter at 14

Maybe seeing as she already has that copy you could look at it together with her and talk about it?

[craftykelly]

Too young for Dolly I think too. My mum didn't explain periods to me at all - lucky I had a friend who got hers really early. That helped slot.

[~Sherree~]

i dont like those sort of mags and wouldnt be encouraging them ever certainly not at 9! I will just add that jorja got her period when she was 9 so its not really too young IMHO, perhaps just not the right way to go about it...

[Shannon]

ugh, dolly is so trashy, I'll be hesitant to get it for my girls at all. But they will want it at one point I suppose - I know I did. I was getting it well before I got my period, which I got a month before I turned 13, so when you take into account the more rapid maturation of children these days, I suppose that girls of that age might start wanting it......especially if it has an article about Twilight or some band in it or something.

Personally, I would say that the mini book about periods is probably the most appropriate thing about the whole thing lol - the rest of the mag should go in the trash but keep the periods book. I found the Dolly articles about periods really helpful in my tween years - I didn't have to talk to an adult about it (shudder) and it's not like my friends and I talked about it at all. I would say that Dolly mag is where I learned everything about periods (but I had a parent who wouldn't talk about it at all).

Don't just assume that the mother is doing the trashy thing or the wrong thing. It's her daughter YK, she might think that this is a pleasant way for her child to learn of these things, she might want her to have the 'trendy' things in the magazines etc. We all have ideas on how to parent our offspring, they might not align with the stepmother's ideals, but she would have her reasons I would say.

[BOB]

I think i would have been that age when i started reading them but only becuase there were older girls where we used to go on holidays and they had some. Think they were too old for me then.

You know her mum will probably just keep on buying them for her though hun.

[mum2squish]

I wasnt allowed to read them until I was about 13 or grade 8.. the girl I nanny for was around 13 when she was allowed to read them too (and her mum is really unstrict and cas about those sort of things)... I personally wouldnt give it to a 9 year old, I still remember one of the ones I got when I was a teen having a free condom attached to it.