The Abstinence Clearinghouse Blog

Antonio Garcia-Alavez went to school Thursday looking for a lesson in how to talk with his four children. By the end of the night, he and his 14-year-old son hugged.

“It kind of felt good,” Edgar Garcia said afterward. “We haven’t hugged in a long time.

“We’ll hug probably every day now, I hope.”

As part of its abstinence-focused Pure Passion for Fashion program today at Godwin Heights High School, Wedgwood Christian Services brought motivational speaker Luis Galdamez from California to speak with parents at the school Thursday night.

QUOTES

What parents heard from Luis Galdamez on Thursday:

“You guys are the primary educators of your children.”

“How many of you take time on a daily basis (to talk to your kids)? For the most part, (communication) is not there because we don’t want to, not because it’s not possible.”

“I make it my job to hang out with them. I always tell my kids (at the movies): ‘You can sit wherever you want. However, the popcorn, the candy and the sodas are right here’ (with me).”

“Tell ‘em you love ‘em. Tell ‘em you believe in them. Tell ‘em to wait.”

Galdamez also spoke Thursday at Lighthouse Academy and Godfrey Lee Public Schools and was scheduled today to visit Wyoming Park High School in addition to Godwin Heights high and middle schools.

Galdamez, a Salvadoran who alternated between English and Spanish, urged parents to be involved in their children’s lives by making time each day for communication.

“I’m not talking about the blah, blah, blah, blah,” he said.

“You want to be able to sit down and have a conversation with your youth.”

After all, if parents cannot talk with kids about movies and clothing, then “who’s going to talk about sex?” Galdamez said.

“In your schools, there are teenagers having sex,” he told parents. “Drugs, sex, alcohol and violence are everywhere.

“I don’t believe the battle is over. We can still win, but we have to change the strategy. Tell ‘em you love ‘em. Tell ‘em you care about them. Tell ‘em you believe in them. And if

you throw in ‘wait,’ guaranteed your kids will have a better chance of waiting” to have sex.

Galdamez said part of promoting abstinence is encouraging children to dream for a better future.

“People just think we tell kids not to have sex and that’s it,” said Becky Toth, Wedgwood community programs coordinator. “That’s a misconception. Not only do we teach abstinence, we teach character development.”

Due to a federal funding cut, Toth said Wedgwood isn’t teaching anything in local schools this year. The faith-based nonprofit for the past few years had taught sex education in health classes at Godwin Heights, for example.

Source:  Grand Rapid Press