Our Whole Lives
Our Whole Lives Updates
Our Whole Lives is our values-based sexuality curriculum that truly is one of the foundations of our religious exploration program. We put the program on hold in March of 2020 with the high hopes we could offer several age ranges this fall. Alas, this just simply cannot be. OWL can only hold its integrity in person without masks as the subjects covered are deeply personal, essential to our human core, and hold the potential to be triggering for some participants. OWL was not designed to be implement online or (with the exception of the kindergarten-first grade level) delivered by parents in the home. We have received strong messages from the UUA not to offer it in any way but in person without masks and it is not safe to do this at this point.
This is hard. There is no way around it. Comprehensive and values based holistic sexuality education is one of the most important things to be offered to our children and youth. And we have to wait. However, we have some options to help bridge the gap.
Parents as Sexuality Educators – small group meetings
One of the fundamental assumptions of the OWL program is that parents are their children’s first and foremost sexuality educators. But how do we do this!?! How do we support our children’s sexuality development? There is a program we can offer that will support you in this role, find answers to all the burning questions you and your children have, and create a community of love to hold space for this important part of our children’s development. We can offer it to parents with children of any age over zoom (I know…) or in a socially distanced outdoor gathering. We need at least 5 parents to express interest / commit to the program to make it run, and then we can talk logistics.
Please contact Ginger and/or Ryan to express interest in this program.
Ginger – ginger.allen@palouseuu.org
Ryan – traigo12@gmail.com
Facebook messenger also works great for Ginger!!
From the UUA website: Parents as Sexuality Educators: Ten sessions invite parents and caregivers to explore their role as the primary sexuality educators of their elementary through teen age children. The 90-minute sessions use a small group ministry format to engage adults in topics including Gender Identity, Relationships, Social Media, and Consent.
At Home Resources
There are some amazing recourses out there to help parents and children find their way in this sea of sometimes conflicting and always confusing messages concerning sexuality education. Here are links to vetted resources for your family: