Getting your first period is a big thing in every young girl's life. Whether it will go smoothly or not depends not only on how adults in their lives handle it but how she deals with her emotions as well.
For example, in today's story, an 11-year-old girl gets her first menstruation. And while the main adult woman in her life tries to deal with it smoothly, the girl ruins not only her first experience but her dad's relationship with said woman. You might wonder what she had to do for things to unfold this way? Well, let's just say that it was a bunch of needy stuff.
More info: Reddit
How should you react when your partner enables child's toxic behavior?
Image credits: CDC (not the actual photo)
A woman's boyfriend has an 11-year-old daughter who recently started her first period
At first, the girl reacted to it quite normally, nothing too serious besides some annoying comments and questions
Image credits: Vanessa Ramirez (not the actual photo)
Soon, her behavior turned vile, which consisted of constant tantrums and even violent behavior
Image credits: Katie Gerrard (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/Legitimate-Pirate644
And what's even worse is her dad legitimized it all, which made his girlfriend snap and kick out both him and the girl, ending a 2-year relationship
The OP’s boyfriend has an 11-year-old daughter, and they planned on moving into the author’s place, who lives with her 8-year-old son.
Recently, the girl started her first-ever menstrual cycle. The general time period when girls start getting their first menstruation ranges between the ages of 10 and 15, but it is not that rare when it happens a bit earlier (like at 8) or a bit later (like at 16). Well, the girl in the story seemed to start this experience at a very normal age. Yet, the way she coped with it didn't seem so normal.
When her period started, initially, she acted quite calm, just annoying her dad’s girlfriend by talking about it, but the woman tolerated it since it was the first girl’s experience. And she did the right thing by letting the girl be curious -- after all, it is advised not to leave kids starting puberty in the dark.
Sadly, this slightly irritating behavior wasn’t the full reaction the girl had. Her true colors were revealed the second her dad and the woman’s son got home.
For instance, she screamed at her future stepbrother when he asked to play with her and then slammed him out of the doorway. This made the boy hit the wall, bruise his shoulder, and hit his head. She justified her behavior, saying that her period makes her not want a boy near her, so her dad gave her a pass for it, which angered the OP.
To be fair, there’s some truth behind the girl's words. Some people who menstruate have premenstrual syndrome (probably better known as PMS), which causes them to have certain physical and emotional symptoms before or during the period, like bloating, acne, or moodiness, sadness, and anxiety, just to name a few. Still, the abuse of another person shouldn’t be justified by this syndrome.
Well, the author wasn’t planning to justify it, yet the girl’s dad was happy to. And it happened more than once. For example, she threw a tantrum and ruined the family’s beach day, ate half the pot of chili, did not leave enough for others to eat, and demanded ice cream after her bedtime or she’d snap.
Image credits: Gustavo Fring (not the actual photo)
This took place until her behavior made the original poster snap. When the girl wanted to stay home from school and interrupt the working woman again, she refused to accommodate this request. This turned into a screaming match, which ended in the OP telling her boyfriend and his daughter to pack their stuff and leave.
Afterward, the man kept blowing up the woman's phone, basically asking her to let them back in, calling it just a bump in the road. Yet, she says that she was never so disgusted by someone else’s behavior, so she doesn’t plan on letting them return.
The majority of netizens seem to understand where the woman was coming from. The girl assaulting the woman's son was enough of a justification for them.
Some were worried that maybe the girl learned somewhere that women on their period are “supposed” to act this way. The woman answered that it could have been anywhere, as the girl has nearly unlimited access to social media. Well, those who worry aren’t wrong to do so. Even today, from time to time, it’s “normal” to portray menstruating women as crazy, and children are very impressionable.
Well, no matter if a girl was influenced to act this way or she actually feels it doesn't justify her abusing a younger kid and her dad trying to swipe it all under the rug. So, maybe getting kicked out will serve them both a much-needed reality check, and in the future, their behavior might be saner.
Internet users viewed this as a proper reaction from the woman's side, and at the same time, they were worried about the girl's behavior's origins
