By Kristina Staab
For The Catholic Messenger
The next Cycle Show in the Diocese of Davenport will take place June 3 at St. Mary Parish in Solon. Linda Jacobs of Marshalltown will lead the interactive, multimedia workshop designed to teach girls about their fertility. Cycle Show aims to empower girls to learn about the miracle of their bodies through the use of colorful materials, props, music and fun games.
In the first part of the workshop, the girls learn how hormones work in the body of a woman to create human life. In the second part of the workshop, the girls learn how and why the hormones begin to change their bodies from a girl to a woman in puberty. The girls then take on the role of hormones to learn how these hormones act within their own bodies as they begin ovulation cycles and the preparation for their first periods.
“Each girl has been given the gift of learning the entire narrative of how a baby is made and why the changes in her body are happening,” said National Guiding Star Cycle Show Coordinator Kari Beadner. “As she experiences the different changes, parents can talk and reflect back to the Cycle Show and how this change fits into the rest of what is happening in her body. And as different topics come up in conversation, news or media we can have an open discussion with a great foundation that has already been laid. This is culture-changing information that is helping to cultivate a Culture of Life in each community!”
The Cycle Show originated in Germany. Beadner brought the program to the United States in 2018. “I was searching for a program to teach our young people about fertility appreciation at an early age. The Cycle Show is a dynamic age-appropriate program with the ability to change our culture in a huge way!,” said Beadner.
Recently, eight 9-13-year-old girls from the Diocese of Davenport attended a Cycle Show workshop at St. Wenceslaus Parish in Iowa City, the second Cycle Show to be held in the diocese.
To learn more about the Cycle Show or to register, go to: https://guidingstarproject.com/cycle-show/.
