The My First Period Kit is an attractive lavender zippered bag with a butterfly on the front. Inside the bag is a DVD entitled Healthy Chats for Girls, a lavender silicone bracelet with butterflies embossed on it, and a small reference booklet for parents. The DVD contains 3 different video segments: "Healthy Chats for Girls" (1 hr 10 min), "The Birds and the Bees with Ease" for parents (approx. 20 min) and "The Birds and the Bees with Ease" for mothers and daughters (approx. 12 min). This kit and video presentation is designed for girls between 9 and 12 years old and their mothers (or another significant adult).

Dr. Chrystal de Freitas is a mother and a pediatrician who has been giving these presentations on puberty and sexuality to "tween" girls and their mothers for 15 years. The video presentation is actually a recorded seminar that was attended by about a dozen girls and their moms. The "Healthy Chats" seminar deals with puberty, body changes, periods, and feminine health and hygiene, including feminine products and how to use them correctly. The information is age-appropriate, and illustrations are projected images used in the seminar that Dr. de Freitas is conducting. The presentation is engaging for girls, giving them enough information to be helpful but not too much. During the puberty video, there is no direct reference to sexuality except to mention that conceiving a baby takes both a man and a woman.

"The Birds and the Bees with Ease" segments give age-appropriate answers to three common questions of young people:

1. Where do babies come from?
2. How do they get out?
3. How did they get in there in the first place?

Dr. de Freitas handles these sensitive topics with finesse and grace. While she briefly mentions the mechanics of the sexual act, she does not go into any detail at all. She clearly communicates the heavy ramifications of sexual activity and that it is an adult behavior for a married man and woman who are in a position to care for a baby. She speaks to the mothers about conveying their own values to their children, but she is clear in her message of abstinence until marriage.

I wish I'd had this resource sooner. Dr. de Freitas does an excellent job (during the mothers-only video segment) of explaining what types of information should be given to children at various ages and why. Her explanations would have helped me in deciding how to handle these subjects with my two older children.

This resource isn't for everyone. Not everyone will want to share the information about sexuality with their nine-year-old, but I don't think anyone would find Dr. de Freitas' presentation offensive. There are those who would not want to have someone else discuss these topics with their child. There are others who would love to have someone else do the actual explaining and then just be available to answer questions later. The puberty section of the video is valuable for anyone with girls ages 9 and older. The other section can be previewed and used as desired. The kit itself makes a pretty and discreet bag to hold all of a girl's "personal necessities" as she nears or reaches the age of menstruation.

I would recommend this kit for anyone who wants some guidance in dealing with these two important topics. Of course, everyone would need to use discernment in deciding how to use it, but the presentation is very tactfully done and would be an asset to most families.

Product review by Kim Kargbo, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2010