HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Talking about sexuality and drugs can be difficult conversations for youths to open up about with their parents. A self-awareness workshop for children is helping bridge the gap and spaces are available to empower preteens with important relationship skills.
The Bureau of Women’s Affairs is hosting the third free session of Empower, a weeklong comprehensive self-awareness education workshop for children ages 8-12, the bureau announced in a press release.
The workshop provides youths with a safe space to learn about personal well-being, proper relationship development, health and nutrition through fun and age-appropriate activities that engage, teach and give participants the knowledge to be able to protect themselves and make good relationship choices, the bureau said in the release.
Two groups of children have gone through the program and, according to Women’s Affairs, parents such as Loraina Aguon noticed a positive impact.
“My son enjoyed this summer program. He felt comfortable to tell me he learned about sexuality and drugs. He is almost 8 and I feel it is important for our children around this age to learn about these topics before they enter middle school,” Aguon said in the release.
Based on a curriculum written by Timmy De La Cruz and Lisa Linda Natividad – Navigating Personal Wellbeing & Sexuality: A Facilitator’s Guide for Working with Chuukese and CHamoru Communities – the facilitators spend a week with kids having culture-based conversations that some parents may shy away from or didn’t have as youths themselves.
“My generation, as a millennial, I did not have a safe space to easily talk to my parents about these topics because of the stigma of the topics making our parents ‘uncomfortable,’” said Aguon. “So now that I am a parent, I want to ensure my child has the opportunity to learn and apply the skills as he grows up and be able to have open conversations about it.”
The third session of the workshop will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 31 through Aug. 4 at Guam Community College. Parents can register their children at: https://forms.gle/XXn7vHnK3MjrXm9NA. For information, interested residents can WhatsApp 671-483-6409 or email info.bwa@guam.gov by Thursday, July 27.
The Bureau of Women’s Affairs is offering another Empower Workshop for kids to learn about relationships, consent and well-being.
