At what age should the discussion of periods come up? I imagine that conversation is pretty awkward, but it has to be done. How do you bring it up? What all do you go over?

    

We just went over it with our daughter last year when she was 8. I was going to wait but we were told a story about a little girl in the same grade who got hers and freaked out in school because she had no idea what was going on when it happened!

So I thought about it and turned straight to the internet and looked for a book or something I could give her to talk to her about it. I ended up finding a website that played a little video and talked about it briefly. So I showed it to her and she said "OK, cool." That was it...literally. All the awkwardness I thought was going to be there...wasn't. Now she knows what it is and knows what to expect. No surprises when it happens.

I got mine young and was being raised by my dad when it happened...yeah that was awkward.

You should have "the talk" when your child is in the 5th grade. They are old enough to understand AND it's around the time kids start their period. I wasn't told about my period and thought I wasn't cleaning myself properly after I went to the bathroom. I was so embarrassed. My mom never talked to me about it and it was horrifying! I found out that I had started my period after my mom yelled from the laundry room, "Jessica, did you start your period?" That was how I found out.
Good Luck and don't make a big deal out of it. If you do, it will be awkward for her and scary.