First and foremost-don't worry! You are not going to break her, and chances are, unless you are totally devoid of sensitivity, you will not scar her emotionally. The fact that you are taking the time and effort to search out information on the subject is proof in itself that you are a good dad, willing to undergo some of the uncomfortable situations that can come when dealing with the female psyche, or worse, some of the disgusting aspects of dealing with the female body. I promise I will try to be as gentle as possible, but some subjects simply can't be avoided. The best thing you can do for your daughter is to be confident in yourself. Don't think because you are a man you have to concede to a woman when it comes to issues such as this. Armed with a little information, you can be the parent that she feels comfortable confiding in.

ANATOMY OF THE 0-9 YEAR OLD

When going to the bathroom, anything that comes from the back can wreak havoc on anything in the front. This means you should take care in wiping to avoid interaction, and as she gets older you should teach her to do the same. Tell her why it is important to wipe the back from the back, and the front from the front and she will be far more likely to understand. You don't have to use the words "urinary tract infection," but you get the idea...

Usually beginning around the age of four, your daughter may approach you, open her vagina ( as wide as possible), and inform you that it is stinging, or some other condition. Chances are, she has been potty trained for quite some time, and you are not so comfortable with an up close viewing as you used to be. Try not to do anything to discourage her from feeling comfortable about coming to you with this sort of information. You want to be able to keep an eye on things, and you want her to be able to talk to you about anything. I can't give you any advice on how to handle it in front of a room full of people, but if it's appropriate for her to broach the subject, you should allow her to do so. Take a look, and unless things are totally out of whack, tell her it is probably just because all of the soap didn't get rinsed off. She is probably just looking for assurance that there's nothing really wrong, but if it seems to be bothering her, a clean, facecloth with cool water and maybe a little Vaseline- if it's really red- should do the trick. She will suddenly become modest around the age of nine or ten, but the groundwork will have been laid, and you can rest easy that your daughter will let you know if there are any areas of concern.

HER PERIOD

There is no exact science to determining when she is going to get her period for the first time, but chances are she will get it around the same age her mother was when she got her first period. Most girls begin to menstruate when they are twelve or thirteen, but some girls get their periods as young as ten years old. The best idea is to buy a box of pads (tampons come into play roughly a year later, and there is no advice that you could give her on tampons any better than the instructions that come in every box) and let her know they are there if she needs them, and then leave it at that. In the best of all possible circumstances, the two of you will never have to talk about her period again after you have given her these facts:

1. The first few months of menstruation are unpredictable. She may get some bleeding one month for a few days, and then who knows when it will come again. This can be very scary to think about if you are a young girl, because every school has the one unlucky kid who got her period in the middle of a crowd for all to see. Tell your daughter if she pays attention she is sure to know that there is something going on long before it gets to the point of going through her clothes. I am a grown woman who has run into situations, and believe me; a pair of underwear and blue jeans can take a good amount before anyone else is the wiser. Due to the logistics, it is likely she will be going to the bathroom when she begins her menstruation, and even if she finds herself without a pad handy toilet paper can do wonders. Just be sure to tell her to wrap the toilet paper around the crotch of her panties, because without any adhesive it has a tendency to drop right down a pant leg.

2. There can be some pretty scary-looking stuff mixed in there. Blood clots are common, and they can be alarmingly big-up to the size of a quarter. They can be extremely dark and solid, too. I didn't really want to give you the visual, but I didn't want you rushing your kid to the hospital unnecessarily.

3. To dispose of pads, roll them up with the glue facing outward, and then wrap that up in toilet paper. Demonstrate with an unused one. This technique benefits everyone, including the septic system. Some girls do not want anyone to see the unsightliness, and will go to great lengths to avoid the embarrassment, even hiding them in a drawer, etc.

4. An unsuspecting dad who happens to get a sunny-side up view of his daughter's dirty underwear might have cause to wonder about her hygene.  It is typical for teenage girls to have a heavy discharge, which will decrease as she ages.  Most girls spend their teenage years thinking they are abnormal, only to have a discussion with a best friend one day, and realize that she is just like everybody else.   Discharge should not have a strong odor, or a greenish tint, anything else is par for the course.

5. You need not go into the whole, "Now you are a woman," discussion, but she may ask you why she is getting her period, so I am going to explain it to you in grownup terms and you can translate. If she were to become pregnant, the embryo would embed itself inside her uterus, snugly within this blood. Every month, in the absence of an embedded embryo, the uterus sheds this blood in order to clean itself and replenish the supply. The period is the ultimate douche, and it is unnecessary and even unhealthy for a woman to douche after she has had her period. She may feel dirty, but in reality she couldn't be any cleaner!

There you go-everything that you need to know (and maybe some that you don't) about dealing with your daughter's period.