For Hinsdale Group, It's Not Your Parents' Sex Ed

HINSDALE, IL — With all that's online these days, children need sex education more than ever. At least that's the position of Hinsdale-based Candor Health Education, formerly the Robert Crown Center.

The local group has been teaching kids around the Chicago area about sex and puberty for more than a half century. Today, its curriculum for older students includes sexting, porn and what "no" really means, among other things. "Definitely not your parents' sex ed program," the center says.

A 2020 study showed that half of 11- to 13-year-olds have seen pornography in some way, said Katie Gallagher, the center's director of education. And that has likely gotten worse during the pandemic, when students are spending more time online.

"It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. It's a matter of them typing something in or spelling something a little off. Often times, it's a friend of middle school age," Gallagher said in an interview. "We are really encouraging families starting some of their conversations about this earlier."

When parents hand smartphones to their children, she said, they should have conversations first. If a child sees pornographic images, they see that as reality, she said.

"So you want to do whatever you can to open those lines of conversation," Gallagher said. "Truly, conversations around sex and sexuality have to be ongoing."

Cara Hurley, a Hinsdale psychologist, said her fifth-grade daughter recently went through Candor Health Education's sex ed program. Because of the pandemic, she went through it virtually.

"It really launched a discussion," Hurley said in an interview. "We really talked about some things. It was so organic with my daughter. Every day, she was saying, 'Did you know...?' They've made my child comfortable talking about these types of things."

For more information on Candor Health Education, visit its website.