The argument for going beyond this phrase to teach consent as a life skill to empower and protect our kids I wish teaching our children consent were in fact as simple as teaching them to freely say ‘No’ while also teaching them to respect someone saying ‘No’ to them. While there is still great value […]
September is Sexual Health Awareness Month
September is our favorite month here at Candor. It’s the month school begins, and our programs start back up; it’s the month of our annual fundraiser; and most importantly, it’s Sexual Health Awareness Month – our specialty! For nearly 50 years, we have been providing puberty & sex education programs to students, and we want […]
Healthy Habits for Healthy Brains
Habits can make or break us. Cambridge Dictionary defines a habit as “something that you do often and regularly, sometimes without knowing that you are doing it.”[1] Good habits set us down the path of success in all parts of life, while bad habits can take years (even decades) to break. As the school year […]
Vaping Regulation: Good Start, but is it Enough?
Recently, the FDA has banned the JUUL device and four types of JUUL pods. What is the impact for young people and vaping? It’s a start but unfortunately more needs to be done. Vaping for teens exploded in popularity in 2011 with JUUL quickly becoming one of the most popular e-cigarette products. The product was […]
The “Upstream” Approach & Primary Prevention
Providing young people with appropriate information and education sooner rather than later may not save the world, but it could help us get pretty darn close! My sister is a Public Health major and I remember the first time she explained the difference between primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention to me. She immediately used the […]
Increased Physical Inactivity Amongst Young People
As summer approaches, the time to be active is upon us. The last few years, getting out and being active has been extremely difficult due to COVID 19 and the closure of places like sports facilities and gyms. A survey of 14 countries affected by COVID-19 showed that physical activity has been on the decline […]
Before You Say It, Don’t
“I would never wear that outfit, but you look so good!” “Oh you’re going to McDonald’s? I stopped eating fast food. You know your metabolism will slow down eventually, right?” “You know boys won’t like you if you act to desperate. You should play hard to get.” “Stop throwing the ball like that. You are […]
Donate to End Period Poverty
The cost of menstrual products (estimated $250-300/year for the average woman) is probably not on your mind today, but it is on the heart of the staff at Candor Health Education in Hinsdale. Recent research found that almost two-thirds of low income women in the U.S. could not afford menstrual products in the last year, while […]
The Puberty Talk, the Sex Talk, and Timing
I was a weird kid. Not like, put spaghetti on my head during dinner just to get a laugh weird; more like asking my mom random questions that she didn’t see coming weird. Take for example, the time I asked her what semen was. My poor parents. Cornered by a child who wouldn’t stop asking questions. I asked my mom questions about pubic […]
Just Because They Can Doesn’t Mean They Do
Understanding of adolescent decision making has moved beyond simple “age differences in risk perception and reasoning” to include relevant social and emotional factors that directly inform when and how adolescents make decisions about everything from substance use to condom use.[i] Adolescence is defined as the period between which “physiologically normal puberty” initiates and adulthood begins.[ii] […]