This season sees several health holidays: “Let’s Talk” Month/National Family Sexuality Education, Domestic Violence Awareness, National Breast Cancer Awareness, and Health Literacy Awareness; to name a few. 

The one I want to address is “Let’s Talk.”

“Let’s Talk” Month, held in October every year, places a spotlight on communicating about sex and sexuality in a medically accurate, age appropriate, family values manner that benefits children as well as their guardians. 

• “Let’s Talk” affords parents an opportunity to discuss their values and expectations with their children. 
• “Let’s Talk” provides a forum for communities to talk about sexuality in the context of faith. 
• “Let’s Talk” provides tools for communities to talk about sexuality in the context of what makes a healthy community.

"The Talk" has a very different connotation than “Let’s Talk.”  “Let’s Talk” is a series of open-ended conversations that will take place over the course of the year – and indeed, over the course of a lifetime.  It includes parents and significant adults talking with children; peers talking with peers; adults talking with other adults; and so on throughout the continuum of life. 

The specifics and detail of the information will continue to change as the situation demands and medical science and technologies advance, but the willingness to share information, share values, listen to differing opinions, and value the individuals involved in the discussion is a constant.

So, “Let’s Talk”—not just during one month of the year, but all year long. 

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