| We are excited to have the return of Our Whole Lives for the 2022-23 year. Middle school is up and running. Offerings for 1st & 2nd grade and 5th & 6th grade will begin in January. Click HERE to register your interest for these upcoming elementary sessions. Parents and Caregivers as Sexuality Educators A Small Group Ministry Sunday Evenings from 4:30 – 6:30pm Childcare Available with Advance Request (dre@uufwc.org) Register Your Interest Here This is for parents and caregivers of children in elementary through high school. As the primary sexuality educators for the children in your care this small group ministry can help you to gain comfort, develop communication skills, create a group of parent friends and support around the topic of human development, relationship skills, and human sexuality. These are the parents and caregivers of your children’s friends. What a great chance to enhance your community support for each other and experience OWL as a ministry of our UU faith. The small group ministry format provides a spiritually grounded space to approaching sexuality in a secular way that is grounded in science, in tune with the OWL lifespan sexuality education programs on which it is based. Feeling ready to talk about challenging topics gives parents and caregivers the confidence to broach ideas and conversations that might never come up in regular discussions with children and youth. These sessions aim to help parents and caregivers feel ready. Our Unitarian Universalist values, especially our first Principle—that we affirm the inherent worth and dignity of every person—guide us to affirm our youth in a way that allows them to grow into adulthood in a healthy and positive way, including their sexuality. Exploring our values with other parents allows us to open ourselves to new ideas and lose some of the negative scripts we might be carrying from our upbringing and past experiences. Talking through the ways we might approach challenging topics before we begin conversations with our youth gives us a chance to practice finding the right words, the most positive outlooks, ensuring that our conversations have a chance to be open and helpful to our children and youth. I hope you will join us. If you have questions, please reach out to Jenni at dre@uufwc.org DATE TOPIC October 23 Hopes and Concerns for Kids’ Sexual Health October 30 Communication: How Do We Talk about Sex? November 6 Gender Identity: Exploring Emotions around Gender November 20 Sexual Orientation: Supporting Self-Discovery December 4 Relationships: Guiding with Wisdom January 8 Sexual Health: Be a Trusted Source January 22 Social Media: Integrity in a Changing World February 5 Consent: Building Healthy Boundaries February 12 Ethical Non-monagamy March 12 Pornography: It’s Not Sex Ed March 26 Unintended Pregnancy April 16 Decision Making: Ready, Set, Let Go! |