What we pass on — or don't — to our daughters When a young girl enters puberty, what do we actually tell her? It depends. It depends on the family, the culture, the inherited taboos. In previous generations, girls were given very little — or no — information about what was happening in their bodies. Periods arrived by surprise. The body changed without explanation. No questions were asked because no one knew they could be. Thankfully, things have been changing in recent years