As a concerned educator, you understand that teaching about puberty and menstruation is much more than passing along factual information. These critical lessons in personal development can have positive effects on students’ sense of self-image and help them to take their first confident steps toward adulthood with a minimum of emotional discomfort and embarrassment.

In addition to striking the right tone of expert guidance and friendly support with your students, it’s important to make sure that parents have the information they need to help their youngsters through this exciting - but challenging - time of life.

Click on the topics below for insights into the best ways of communicating with both students and parents.

Classroom Tips

Getting Parents Involved

• Components of an Effective Parent Orientation Session
• Conducting a Parent Orientation Session
• Parent/Guardian Permission

Classroom Tips

Communicating Clearly and Making Your Students Comfortable

• Develop classroom discussion rules. Help your students develop and follow a clear set of rules to govern their discussions so that all students will feel comfortable sharing thoughts and feelings. You can serve as a role model by talking openly about these highly personal topics. Encourage students to keep classroom discussions confidential.
• Be positive! Educators help young people develop attitudes about human development by setting the tone of the learning experience. Maintain a positive approach to these normal, healthy processes of growing up. Adolescents pick up on your feelings and attitudes. How something is presented is often more powerful than what is said.
• Encourage a climate of openness and trust. Accept your students’ comments and questions. Let them know that their concerns and opinions are valid and worthwhile.
• Provide opportunities for students to ask questions anonymously. For some students, this is the easiest way to express their concerns. Give students time to write down questions and deposit them in a container: answer the questions later for the entire class.
• Encourage students to use proper terms for the parts of the body and their functions.
• Be sensitive to the needs of individuals or groups of students. You may want to adapt the format of some activities to better suit the characteristics of your students (e.g. low reading level). Avoid putting anyone on the spot.
• Be aware that some of your students may be or may have been sexually abused. Some of the information presented may be threatening to them. Be prepared to refer students for proper assistance.

Getting Parents Involved

Encouraging parents’ involvement when teaching about human growth and development is important because parents are the major influence on young people’s developing values and understanding. Most parents support education on physical development and reproduction in classrooms or other similar settings.

A 1985 Louis Harris poll showed that 85% of the American public support such education. However, discussions between a parent and a child can be difficult and awkward when they concern issues of puberty and human reproduction. Parents may feel that they lack sufficient information to answer their children’s questions. Children may sense that their parents are reluctant to discuss these issues.

Both parents and educators are concerned about the normal and healthy development of children. Parents will welcome assistance in adjusting to the changes that their sons and daughters will experience during puberty.

Components of an Effective Parent Orientation Session
Involving parents/guardians from the very beginning is an important part of planning your Teaching Teens Puberty and Menstruation program. One way to involve parents is to invite them to an orientation session where they will have the opportunity to:

• Learn the goals and objectives of the Teaching Teens Puberty and Menstruation program;
• Examine the materials that will be used in the curriculum and to ask questions;
• Receive information about adolescent growth and development;
• Meet the person(s) who will teach their children; and
• Explore ways to communicate with their children on issues of human development.

Conducting a Parent Orientation Session
Start the program with time for introducing yourself and reviewing the session’s agenda. An agenda might include time for 1) parents to introduce themselves, 2) an introduction to the curriculum, 3) a brief presentation on the developmental changes that occur during early adolescence and, 4) a question and answer period.

Be sure to emphasize the following points during the introductory portion of the orientation session:

• Reassure parents that feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed is to be expected and is normal. Such feelings do not indicate the parent is incompetent or doing anything wrong.
• Help parents understand that because a child does not ask questions does not mean that he or she does not have any.
• Encourage parents to answer their children’s questions when they are asked. Responses should be brief and appropriate, and the proper names for the various body parts, organs and functions should be used.
• Stress that young people do rely on parents for guidance as they develop their attitudes about human development. Encourage them to share their values with their children and to talk about why they hold these values.

Deliver a brief presentation on the developmental changes that occur during early adolescence based on the Understanding Puberty section of this website. You may also want to give parents some anonymous examples of the kinds of questions young people ask about human growth and development. Be sure to save time for questions and answers.

Parent/Guardian Permission
Some schools secure parental permission for students attending classes of this nature. Such letters can convey a desire to cooperate with parents for the welfare of the children. Many parents who might not attend a parent meeting would still be more supportive of the program if they were to grant permission for their child to participate.

A sample letter and permission form are provided. Make sure to change the permission form to reflect the subjects you will cover in the classes. The letter could also include an invitation to a parent orientation session. It is wise to offer more than one session to accommodate family work schedules. The letter is ready for you to print on school/district letterhead.

Many school districts do not require or recommend parent permission because they consider human sexuality to be a regular part of the curriculum. It is important for you to understand the procedures and policies of the school district. Any program, however, should be previewed and approved by the principal and/or the health coordinator. Some districts have a school health advisory committee that assists in the evaluation of health programs. Such a committee can co-sponsor parent programs and provide advocacy for the program.

Click Here for Permission Form