Search icon

Parenting

02nd Aug 2017

This 5-year-old boy drew a family portrait of his mum on her period

The mum-of-two says she's proud of her son.

Jade Hayden

Period

He’s probably more clued in that most grown men.

When Penny Rohleder had a look at a family portrait by her five-year-old son Julian, she noticed something that doesn’t usually make an appearance in children’s drawings.

Julian had forgotten to draw two other family members, and included some disproportionate torsos, but this wasn’t what caught mum Penny’s attention.

It was that her son had drawn her on her period.

Taking to Facebook, Penny shared the photo and included the caption:

“Oh this is so funny (…) I said to him “what’s that red thing on me?” He said “that’s your period.”

One user replied to the post and said that it was “Good to see someone else educating their kids about their ‘bits’!” Another commented calling Julian’s drawing “amazing.”

Penny told Metro that she shared the photo because she thought it was hilarious, and because she was proud of her son.

“I was also proud that my 5 year old knows what a period is, when some fully grown men do not.

It’s such a taboo subject for many adults, especially men. Women too, are embarrassed about their bodies and I have absolutely no idea why.”

Penny also said that she regularly has to change her pads or tampons in front of her kids due to the fact that she is on blood thinners.

She said that people who criticise her for doing this are being “unfair.”

“It can be horrific and very messy and urgent. I can’t help that. We have one toilet in our house, and what else was I supposed to do, bleed everywhere?”

With sex education classes regularly separating boys and girls, it’s great that this mum taking the time to teach her son about the facts of life.