Puberty can be difficult for your tween daughter, especially if she experiences emotional changes before, during or after her period. Emotional changes due to menstruation are likely caused by hormonal changes your daughter experiences. Cramps, pimples, and the hassle of menstruation can certainly make emotional periods worse.

Emotional periods can cause all kinds of issues including moodiness, anger, and problems getting along with friends and family.

Emotional changes your daughter may experience before, during or after her period might include:

  • SadnessDepressionIrritabilityA tendency to argue or pick fightsBeing overly sensitiveMood swings

Tips for Helping Your Daughter

If you think your daughter experiences emotional periods, there is a lot you can do.

While some girls and women feel energized by their periods, many also experience the opposite: fatigue. A lack of energy can exacerbate your daughter’s emotional issues.

Encourage your daughter to keep track of her period, and to keep a period diary. A period diary will show when her period is expected to arrive, when cramps might begin, and when emotional changes might occur. Knowing that cramps, pimples, and emotional changes are coming might help your daughter deal with them ahead of time, or at least be prepared for them.

Encourage your tween to spend time alone when she’s feeling particularly irritable. Time alone may help her adjust her attitude, or at least get through the worst of it before an argument or a fight erupts. If being alone doesn’t help, maybe spending time with friends will. Find what works for her, and stick with it.

Help her find a hobby or an interest to take her mind off of her perceived problems. She may want to knit, compose music, draw, cook, or write, for example. For some girls exercise helps put them in a better mood.

Encourage your tween to talk herself out of her bad mood. Are things really as bad as they seem? What positive things can she focus on? Help her adjust her attitude by being patient, and by letting her know it’s alright to have days when you just don’t feel 100 percent.

Exercise can also help minimize the pain from menstrual cramps. See if a walk around the block or a light aerobic activity helps improve her mood and her physical well-being.

Also, encourage her to wait until her period is over before she confronts a friend or picks a fight with someone. Once her period is over, she may feel totally different, and what was bothering her before may no longer be an issue.