I was a few months short of my 11th birthday. I'd been swimming with a friend and when I changed noticed the spotting. Although Mum and I had discussed AF and prepared with pads etc, I still freaked out that i was bleeding. I didn't tell her for the rest of the day until I broke down at dinner time. It was the summer school holidays and I was so glad my brothers were away so they wouldn't tease me.

The good thing to come from this was Mum decided that if I was old enough for AF I was old enough to get my ears pierced which I had been asking for.