“I was running a workshop for the parents of 8th grade pupils, and then meeting the students for the first time the following week. I spoke to the parents about ACET Ukraine’s ‘University of Healthy Youth’ course, and about HIV, relationships and sex education, and the 5 languages of love. They asked me lots of questions: ‘How do I talk to my son about sex?’; ‘Is it too early to talk about sex with a child at 13?’; ‘Do I need to hug my son if he is 14 years old?’; ‘How important is it to spend time with a teenager?’
One mother cried throughout the meeting and at the end approached me. She said that the workshop had made her she realise how important it was to love her child, and to talk with her about relationships and sex. She had been too embarrassed and had thought that it was the school’s job. She promised that she would tell her daughter what she had learned, to show her she loved her and to spend more time with her.
The following week, when I met the students, a girl told me about the change in her mother: ‘My mom hugged me when she came home after the parents' meeting. She cried and said that she loved me. Before, after parents' meetings, she would be irritated and angry. What did you tell my mom?!"
Tatyana Doronicheva, ACET Ukraine volunteer