We Tried 4 Kinds of Pads With My 12-Year-Old. Only One Didn't Feel Like a Diaper.

Let me save you the drawer full of half-used boxes we ended up with.

When my daughter got her period, I did what most of us do. I handed her what I had. Then I went to the store. Then I went back to the store.

Four kinds of pads in four months. Three of them ended up in the back of the bathroom cabinet. Here's what happened with each one, and what finally worked.

First I gave her a pack of my regular pads and told her she'd get used to them. She didn't. A grown-woman pad on a 12-year-old is long, wide and thick. She walked out of the bathroom like she was wearing a diaper. Her words, not mine.

So I bought the smallest box on the shelf. It was still an adult pad, just a little shorter. It bunched by second period and shifted every time she sat down.

★★★★★

"after buying the smallest ones I could find in the store ( which the girls said fit like diapers ) Both my girls have stated that these fit much better and are more comfortable."

"Small" on an adult box still means adult.

Next I tried a pack labelled for teens. Better. Slimmer and softer. But it was one size in one box. Too much on light days, not enough at night. Her flow changes across the week. The box didn't.

Then one afternoon she came home quiet. She'd run out at school, didn't want to ask a teacher in front of the class, and folded toilet paper into her underwear for the rest of the day.

It was never just about the pad. She needed the right sizes, with her, and a way to step out of class.

Then another mom told me about a kit.

At a soccer game, another mom told me about Scarlet: a kit made for tweens and teens by two moms, Monica, a doctor, and Dana, a teacher.

• 6.3"Size 1 Mini, light days
• 7.1"Size 2 Midi, school days
• 9.6"Size 3 Full, overnight
• 11.4"Size 4, heavy days and nights

36 pads in four sizes, made from the ground up for tween and teen bodies. No alcohol, no chlorine bleaching, no fragrances, no dyes or harsh chemicals. And for school: a pouch for her backpack and a bathroom pass, so she can step out without explaining why.

★★★★★

"the sizes of the pads are winning she stated it doesn't feel like a diaper."

Four months later her drawer is sorted by size, she restocks her pouch herself, and the period underwear from the kit became her backup for heavy nights.

★★★★★

"I have since ordered refills and extra period underwear, she basically lives in them on her period."

The Signature Kit is $49.99 with free shipping. The same pieces bought one by one on their site come to $61.96.

That was my worry too, and it's the question other moms ask me most.

The pads are made for tween and teen bodies, and the four sizes give her more coverage as she grows.

★★★★★

"Now that my daughter is growing from the preteen into the teen, she needed more coverage. These are "THE PERFECT FIT" without having to go into the grown women."

Pick her underwear size from the chart when you order. If the kit isn't right for her, you have 30 days to return it. The period underwear can't be returned, for hygiene reasons.