Kerri Isham has been an educator for 24 years, focusing the last decade on sexual health education.
She brings her expertise to Golden once again to facilitate three workshops geared toward parents and childcare providers to learn about creating a culture of child protection, aging and sexuality, and how to talk to your kids about pornography.
The first workshop, creating a culture of child protection, is hosted at the Golden Civic Centre from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, September 27. Dinner will be provided, and tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite. The workshop is geared toward early childhood educators, parents of primary-aged children, social workers, teachers, grandparents raising grandchildren, and anyone who works with or cares for children. A dinner will be included at 5:30 p.m.
Creating a culture of child protection will teach these people why there is a need to teach sexual health education early, what schools should be offering in terms of abuse prevention, myths of sexual abuse, why kids don’t disclose normal sexual behaviour for younger children, and signs and symptoms of child sexual abuse.
“Trust in adults are key,” Isham said about learning how to talk to children about these topics. “We can’t really talk to someone about a topic if the adults in our world don’t have the information themselves.”
A workshop on aging and sexuality will be hosted on Tuesday, September 24 from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. at the Seniors Centre, including conversation topics on what is sexuality, myths regarding sex and aging, the benefits of remaining sexually active, and obstacles and physical changes associated with aging.
Later in the day, a workshop on gender creative kids will explain how to support gender diverse children and youth from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Seniors Centre. The workshop will teach a basic understanding of terminology regarding gender and sexual orientation, helping people to open up their hearts to the uniqueness of others around.
“Whatever sexuality someone is and however they want to show up in the world is up to them,” Isham said.
Talking to kids about pornography teaches kids about the long-term impacts of viewing pornography and what can be done to combat pornography.
Nearly 50 per cent of children who accidentally see pornography say that they can’t forget that first image. Isham says the biggest problem with kids seeing pornography isn’t that it’s about sex, but that it is about unrealistic sex.
How to talk to your kids about pornography is hosted on Thursday, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Youth Centre.
Isham said she is available to host additional workshops if the community is interested. Anyone who would like to organize more workshops, or find out more about these workshops can contact Isham by e-mail at powerupworkshops@gmail.com. More information about the workshops already scheduled can e-mail Isham or call Lynne Romano at 250-272-0291.
