Outline for Family Workshops .pdf >>

GIRLS (Grades 5-6)

What's NORMAL anyway?

A Workshop for Girls and the Parents and Guardians Who Love Them

Purpose:
This workshop helps parents/guardians share God's plan for the gift of sexuality as they prepare their daughters for the often confusing physical and psychological changes of puberty.

 Description:
This workshop brings parents/guardians and girls together to learn more about God's gift of sexuality and the mysterious changes of puberty. They learn when, how and why a girl's body changes. What happens first and what is NORMAL anyway? They will get answers for the age-appropriate scary sexual questions that they are often unable to ask. The workshop also comes with the information that could be included in an "owner's manual" on how to care for your body.

Workshop Objectives:
At the end of the workshop girls and their parents/guardians will be able to:

1. List the different meanings of the word sex: gender and sexuality.

2. Identify sexuality as the gift of God (Genesis 2).

3.  List the five parts of sexuality - spiritual, physical, intellectual, creative and emotional. (Notice how the first letters of those aspects spell SPICE.)

4. Discuss what Pope John Paul II 's Theology of the Body teaches about God's gift of sexuality and fertility.

5. Describe how girls can inherit different growth patterns from their families.

6. Discuss how girls can grow at different rates.

7. List the physical changes that occur during puberty.

8. Identify the psychological changes that occur during puberty.

9. List how to care for a healthy body.

10. Discuss how girls can learn to love others as Jesus loves us.

11. Identify why girls need to talk with parents/guardians about their changing bodies.

12. Describe how girls can talk with their parents/guardians about their changing bodies.

13. Describe how parents/guardians can help each others children make healthy choices.

14. Discuss age appropriate answers to their questions.

Format:
1 ½ hour interactive workshop using a "Quiz show" ice-breaker, overheads, slides, discussions, questions and answers, and helpful handouts.

Mary Lee O'Connell, CRNP - 8/04