Why is this workshop important?

While parents are waiting to have "the talk" with their kids, they have lost years of opportunities to nurture a healthy sexuality in their children. This lack of family sexuality education contributes to unhealthy sexual identity development which in turn contributes to a variety of societal ills including high rates of STI's, unwanted pregnancies, sexual abuse, low sexual self-esteem and the inability to achieve intimacy.

Workshop objectives

Our earliest interactions with our infants set the stage for their future intimate relationships. Although most parents wish to be the primary sexuality educators for their children, many are confused about when and how to begin.

The goal of "Having the 'talk' before they can talk" is to increase parent's knowledge about infant and child sexuality and to increase their comfort level with their child's sexuality, so they can feel more confident in their role as the primary sexuality educator for their child and be active participants in their child's healthy sexual development from the beginning.

Welcome!

I'm a sexuality educator with experience creating and facilitating workshops on a variety of topics including healthy sexuality for women in recovery, reaching out to LGBT youth, HIV prevention, and healthy sexuality for people living with HIV. I'm also the proud mother of 16 month old Leo. When Leo was just a few months old, I was attending a mommy and me yoga class with him and one of the moms in class asked for advice on how to respond to her 2 year old who had recently discovered her genitals. As I listened to the other mom's responses to her, it occurred to me that this is just one of the many questions that new parents have early on regarding the sexual development of their children. I came up with the idea for "Having 'the talk' before they can talk," a sexuality education parenting workshop for new and expectant parents.