Hang on, let's start with YOU:
Catholic parents can prepare OURSELVES for the start of our daughter's first period by:
☑️ learning the signs of puberty,
☑️ gleaning wisdom from both scientists AND Church leaders
☑️ thinking through education in age-appropriate stages
☑️ and grounding ourselves in the GOODNESS of our own bodies.
Remember desperately avoiding eye contact with others while watching the sex ed videos in school?
Being pushed on the pill as a teen to take care of your painful periods?
Freaking out about what getting your period would be like or all of the random aspects of puberty?
You want better for your kids.
You want to raise confident daughters who aren't ashamed of their bodies.
You want to raise respectful sons who are deeply aware of their dignity and the dignity of others.
And you want it to be better than your experience - which won't be hard, since it was probably in a crowded gymna-cafe-torium with all of your friends making gross jokes, and maybe a bonus cringe-worthy tutorial from your mom.
But how exactly do you teach your daughters to look at cycles as good and healthy, especially if you've never really understood it all yourself?
How do you lay the foundation for your children to see their sexuality and future fertility as a beautiful gift from God while doing justice to the Church's teachings?
And when are you even supposed to start these conversations?!
a note to my fellow overwhelmed parents
I know you're bombarded with alllll of the content and alllll of the things out there that are "vital" for raising emotionally-adjusted, healthy, kind kids...but I promise you this is actually one of them.
After all, it's our God-given responsibility as parents to educate our children on how incredible their bodies are...but we know that isn't the message the world is going to give them.
And this responsibility can be really difficult to live out if you didn't get that education yourself.
I haven't unearthed that elusive "raising kids" manual yet, but I can contribute my chapter: age-appropriate courses and resources designed to help you teach your children about cycles, fertility, and puberty - all with your primary role as the parent at the forefront AND the richness of science and Theology of the Body as its base.
Take a deep breath, say a Hail Mary, and then let's get started.
- Christina
EXPLORE COURSES & RESOURCES FOR PARENTS
MADE IN HIS IMAGE:
Pint-Sized Theology of the Body For Catholic Families
Just starting the conversation with your kids? This is the place to begin: A free course providing an introduction to Theology of the Body for children ages 6-9. All of the depth at a pint size level.
WHAT PARENTS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT (PRE)TEEN PERIODS
A course to prepare moms, dads, and caregivers with all the information and tools YOU want to know to feel more confident guiding our daughter through the tween and teen years of menstrual cycles.
CYCLE PREP
If you're asking "When should I start talking to my daughter about periods?" start here. Cycle Prep is a first period course to prep your daughter - and you - for her menstrual cycle.
CYCLE CHARTING FOR GIRLS
Imagine if we didn't wait until a woman was ready to have kids to understand her cycles. Cycle Charting for Girls is a teen-friendly handbook for learning the basics of charting cycles: what's "normal," how to read the language of our cycles, and even using cycles to track energy and mood swings.
ANATOMY, REPRODUCTION, & FERTILITY
"The talk," but make it Catholic and done in the privacy of your own home. Rooted in the richness of St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body and science, we'll unpack the gift of our fertility through the lens of our Catholic faith - sans the awkwardness.
