This document outlines an agenda and goals for a workshop aimed at strengthening parental involvement in family life education (FLE). The workshop includes activities to explore attitudes towards parental partnerships, identify common parental concerns, and increase comfort communicating with parents. Participants will discuss challenges to parental involvement and strategies to address concerns. The goals are to foster respect for parents' roles, identify issues parents face, and help participants engage parents in FLE.

1. Strengthening Parental
Involvement in FLE

2. Agenda
8:30 WELCOME
9:00 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
9:30 Parent Partners
10:15 BREAK
10:30 SIHAN Activity
11:15 Four Corner Preparations
11:30 LUNCH
12:30 Four Corners
1:30 Why Are Parents Involved
2:15 Reflection and Evaluation
2:30 ADJOURN

3. Welcome
INTRODUCTIONS AND
OVERVIEW

4. Workshop Goals
• Explore their attitudes toward parents as
partners in sexuality education
• Foster an attitude of respect and support for
parents in their roles as sexuality educators
• Identify common issues and concerns that
parents have about communicating with their
children about sexuality education
• Increase their ability to communicate
comfortably about sexuality issues with
parents

5. Workshop Objectives
• Identify their current attitudes toward parents as
sexuality educators
• State positive and respectful attitudes toward parents
• Identify three concerns that parents commonly express
about sexuality education
• Express increased comfort about communicating with
parents about sexuality education
• Describe an activity to assist parents in communicating
with their children about sexuality issues
• Identify at least three strategies parents can use to
increase communication about sexuality with their
children

6. Introductions
• Facilitator(s)
• Staff
• Participants
– Name
– Grade/Level
– School Affiliation

7. Working Agreement
• Maintain confidentiality • Avoid making assumptions
• Respect each other’s point of about other members of the
view; recognize that we all group
have some biases • Share responsibility for what
• Speak for yourself—use “I” gets learned today
language; take some risks to be • Ask any questions--there are no
honest dumb questions
• Be nonjudgmental; no put- • Share the time; participate as
downs; be constructive while much as possible
giving each other feedback • ELMO (Enough, lets move on)
• Listen with an open mind • Use discretion with self-
• Recognize that some conflict disclosure
can be helpful and that we • Have fun
should not always avoid it • The Vegas Rule (What happens
• Pass if you feel uncomfortable in Vegas . . .)

8. Activity
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND
THE UGLY

9. Reflection
• Think back over your experience as a
teacher, as a parent, or as a student.
– What experiences with parents sticks out in
your mind?
• Answer the reflection questions on your
handout and then be prepared to share in
pairs

10. Activity
PARENT PARTNERS

11. Planning for Involvement
• Planning
• Development
• Implementation
• Evaluation
• Dissemination
• Celebrating Successes

12. Goals of Parent Orientations
• The goals of an orientation session are to
– inform parents of the planned Family Life
Education, HIV prevention education, or
sexuality program;
– offer a rationale for the particular approach;
– gain input from parents; and
– gain their support for the effort.

13. Engagement Models
• 90 Minute Workshop
• Parent Workshop Series
– 3-6 Sessions
• Parent/Child Workshop Series
– 4-6 Sessions
• One Day Workshop/Retreat

14. Activity
SIAHAN

15. The SIAHAN Story
This is a story about Andre
and one of his most prized
possessions --his SIAHAN
sign. When Andre was born,
he was just like the rest of us.
He came equipped with a sign
called SIAHAN.

16. The SIAHAN Story
Sexually
I
Am
Healthy
And
Normal

17. The SIAHAN Story
By the time Andre was an adult,
much of his SIAHAN sign had
grown back.
Young people are fairly resilient.
However, there were some big
pieces that remained broken,
even then.

18. Activity
FOUR CORNERS

19. Four Corners Preparation
• Think about all of the challenges facing the
involvement of parents as partners in the
delivery of Family Life Education
Curriculum.
• Identify one main challenge that you either
have a best practice to share or would like to
know more information about how to
overcome.
• Write that down on a Post-It™ Note and ask
put your name on the paper as well (so we can
follow-up if anyone has questions)!

20. Activity
WHY ARE PARENTS
INVOLVED

21. Reassuring Parents
• Divide into four small groups.
• Reflect on your assigned questions and for each
question answer the following questions:
– What are the underlying broad values the questions
are motivated by?
– How could an FLE instructor alleviate this concern in
the planning stage of a school year?
– How could an FLE instructor respond to parent who
was not engaged previously or where the program
lacked effective parental engagement?
• Record your responses and be prepared to share
with the large group

22. Techniques for Responding to
Questions and Concerns
• Ask the concerned person for more
information
• Validate the question
• Answer questions directly and honestly
• Avoid becoming defensive or being swept into
an argument
• Respect the other person’s point of view
• Let the person know what you intend to do
about his or her concern and what recourse
she or he has if still not satisfied

23. Questions and Evaluations