Nowadays girls start menstruating earlier than their mothers, right? So my mom started menstruating at 11 and I'm 10, is it likely to happen very soon?

It's not possible to say for sure if yours will come very soon just because your mom got her period at 11. The age your mom got hers is only a small clue: in studies, a daughter's age is only loosely linked to her mom's, and on average daughters started about a year earlier than their moms. But everyone's body has its own rhythm.

The first period can happen anytime between about 9 and 15 years old, sometimes later, and the average is around 12. So being 10 and not having had your period yet is totally normal, even if your mom got hers at 11.

Instead of trying to guess based on age, the best way to know if it's close is to look for the other signs your body usually gives beforehand:

• Breasts starting to grow, which is usually the first sign (your period usually comes about 2 years later, and this varies a lot)
• Pubic and underarm hair, which usually comes a little later, although hair first is also normal
• A growth spurt (your period usually comes about a year after the phase where you grow the fastest, and this also varies a lot)
• Clear or white discharge in your underwear, which can start a few months before (if it changes color, smells bad, or itches, tell an adult)

None of these signs are an exact countdown, you know? Tell an adult if your first period comes before you're 9 (or any bleeding or pink or brown spotting before 9), if you don't get your period by 15, or if you haven't had any breast growth or other signs of puberty by 13, so a doctor can check. Breasts or hair before 8 also warrant a check-up, and it's usually nothing serious.

Oh, and if you want to have a rough idea of when yours might come, there's a quiz on the site: How close is my first period?