Moms: have you "picked a date" to sit down with your eight year-old daughter and discuss menstruation? What are you waiting for? "A study published in Pediatrics last year found that in the United States, 15 percent of American girls begin puberty by age 7." The Kotex corporation "has you covered," ha. Andrew Adam Newman reports:

In what the brand says is an industry first, the pads are designed specifically for 8- to 12-year-olds and are 18 percent shorter and narrower than other Kotex pads. Sold in glittery boxes decorated with hearts, stars and swirls (which are also printed on the pads themselves), the products would look at home on the set of "Hannah Montana"

So don't delay: pull your innocent young daughter away from her childish games, sit her down, and discuss menstruation and sex and pregnancy at once. Then present her with a shiny box of Kotex™ brand "Tween" maxi pads. Not doing this would be the weird thing.

[NYT]