It was a busy weekend----Monday was Recovery Day and
Anyway, Meg and I went to a Family Honor program on Friday and Saturday. Family Honor is about teaching the facts of life in the context of Catholic church teaching along with emphasis on the virtues of Purity and Chastity.
I really didn't know what to expect, though I knew it was good. I'd heard it "takes the awkwardness out of teaching your kids about the birds and the bees." I wasn't sure how that would work...but they do it by actually telling your kids everything they need to know! That sort of surprised me, but it was fine.
The whole seminar was a combination of the Natural Family Planning classes and Marriage Prep classes that Don and I taught for years. We learned about communication skills, hormones, women's cycles, and chastity through a mixture of lectures, slide shows, games, and parent/teen discussions. There were several breakout sessions---boys, girls, parents---and the Facts were taught in a single-sex environment. The only time the boys and girls were together was with the parents.
Meg, as the youngest of 6 children, and a very open, talkative child, was much more knowledgeable than many of her siblings at age 12, so it was good timing for her. Other children might do better in 8th grade as opposed to 7th, though several of her classmates were there. It has already made discussions much more open around here!
Family Honor seems to be focused around the southeast, but it you have the opportunity to attend one or organize one at your parish, I highly recommend it! I wish all my kids had had the chance to go.
Have you ever been to something like this?
I've not heard of Family Honor but it sounds great. Did your parish sponsor it?
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