Cherry Blossom Buds is a fertility and chastity education program for mothers and their daughters ages 5 through 22. The program encourages mothers to educate their daughters on the Church’s teachings on the gift of fertility and femininity in a one-on-one setting in the home through a personalized dialogue and believes that any mother who practices Natural Family Planning in her marriage is equipped for this mission.
Since the woman who practices Natural Family Planning understands the way her body works and has a vision of sexuality rooted in the truth of Catholic Tradition, she is fully equipped to pass the physical, moral, and theological truths about fertility onto her daughters. The Cherry Blossom Buds Program believes that mothers CAN provide excellent age-appropriate fertility education for their daughters, all within an atmosphere of love and trust inside the home and seeks to help mothers gain the confidence and courage they need to carry out this task and to offer ideas to help make it happen.
The Cherry Blossom Buds Program believes that parenting is intentional and that fertility and chastity education must be presented gradually over time in an age-appropriate manner. Just as children learn math, science, reading, and grammar from year-to-year, advancing as they go, so too, children discover who they are as persons gradually, and are ready for different aspects of fertility and chastity education at different stages of their development. The Cherry Blossom Buds Program seeks to help mothers implement the Church’s vision of fertility and chastity education in their homes and is based upon the guidelines set forth by The Pontifical Council for the Family in their document The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality Guidelines for Education within the Family.
The Cherry Blossom–Our Symbol
Cherry blossoms, called “sakura” in Japan, are the beautiful flowers which bloom on flowering cherry trees. The flowering cherry tree blooms once a year in the spring, giving on-lookers a majestic, but short, display of beauty, with blooms lasting only a week or two. Cherry blossom trees have both a great history and a rich symbolism and have played an important and influential role in Japanese culture and tradition for hundreds of years. For the Japanese, the cherry blossom is a symbol of the great beauty and fragility of life. Flowering cherry trees first arrived in our country in 1912 as a gift from the People of Japan to the People of the United States and were planted in Washington, D.C. Today, the stunning trees continue to grace our nation’s capital and an annual festival, the Cherry Blossom Festival, is held there each year when the sakura bloom.
Because of its great beauty and fragility and its many parallels to the female gift of fertility, the Cherry Blossom Buds Program has adopted the Cherry Blossom as our symbol. . .
Each spring, the flowering cherry tree bursts into full bloom, lending the world an ephemeral show of unsurpassing beauty, a reminder of how precious and fragile life is. Like the cherry blossom, a woman’s fertility is a priceless gift, one of unsurpassing beauty, a gift that deserves to be respected, reverenced, cherished, and protected.
The flowering cherry tree stays in bloom for only a week or two. Like the flowering cherry, a woman with typical cycles stays in the fertile time for only a week or two.
The flowering cherry tree lives for only 30 to 40 years. Like the flowering cherry, a woman is in the bloom of her fertility for only 30 to 40 years.
and finally,
Just as the cherry blossom is a reminder of how precious and fragile life is, so too, the fertile woman is a constant reminder of how precious and fragile new life is—life within her womb–the fruit of her fertility.
Your daughter is on a beautiful journey-the journey toward womanhood. She is like the cherry blossom bud, waiting to bloom, her great beauty hidden inside. When she blooms, her beauty too will be revealed to the world. The goal of The Cherry Blossom Buds Program is to help your daughter see that she has been given both a great gift and a great responsibility, a gift that deserves to be respected, reverenced, cherished, and protected. Cherish always the gift of your fertility.
Our Approach
Fertility and chastity education is about more than physiology, it is all about discovering who you are.
Adolescence is a time of intense self-discovery. Young people constantly ask the question,“Who am I?” and are seeking their identity. Fertility and chastity education is about more than physiology, it is all about discovering who you are.
The Cherry Blossom Buds Program believes that the answer to the question, “Who am I?” begins with the way that our bodies were created– that the deepest secrets about who you are lie within the depths of your femininity. Cherry Blossom Buds takes a unique approach to fertility and chastity education, one that is directed toward helping mothers lead their daughters toward a true self-realization. Our mission, our unique approach, is to help mothers show their daughters how their fertility and their femininity are innately intertwined.
Through The Cherry Blossom Buds Cycle-Awareness Charting System, The Cherry Blossom Buds Program gives young women a thorough and in-depth understanding of how the body works, with new concepts being introduced at each age-appropriate level.
Through The Cherry Blossom Buds Cycle-Awareness Charting System, The Cherry Blossom Buds Program gives young women a thorough and in-depth understanding of how the body works, with new concepts being introduced at each age-appropriate level, and then goes a step further. Cherry Blossom Buds also explains to young women the reason WHY their bodies work the way they do, and makes the connection between their fertility and the mission of their femininity–physical and spiritual motherhood.
The Cherry Blossom Buds Program wants your daughter to truly understand who she is, to understand that her fertility is at the very core of what makes her a woman, so that she may live out the mission of authentic womanhood in the world. Making the connection between her fertility and her femininity truly helps a young woman answer the question, “Who am I?” because it invites her to look at her unique feminine design–the way that God created her–and discover the purpose of that design.
The unique approach of The Cherry Blossom Buds Program seeks to give young women the solid foundation which they will need in order to understand and assent to God’s design for married love and sexuality later in life, and embrace Natural Family Planning.
The overall goal of The Cherry Blossom Buds Program is to give our daughters a proper formation and vision 
of true Christian womanhood so that they may embrace their own fertility and femininity as a gift. Cherry Blossom Buds seeks to help young women see their fertility for what it truly is–amazing, and that it deserves to be respected, reverenced, cherished, and protected. It seeks to give them an understanding that the mission of their femininity, physical and spiritual motherhood, is inseparable from their fertility, and imbues all aspects of their lives. The unique approach of The Cherry Blossom Buds Program seeks to give young women the solid foundation which they will need in order to understand and assent to God’s design for married love and sexuality later in life, and embrace Natural Family Planning.
Pillars of the Program
In this context, based on the teaching of the Church and with her support, parents must reclaim their own task. By associating together, wherever this is necessary or useful, they should put into action an educational project marked by the true values of the person and Christian love and taking a clear position that surpasses ethical utilitarianism. For education to correspond to the objective needs of true love, parents should provide this education within their own autonomous responsibility.
The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, 24
Cherry Blossom Buds follows the truly Catholic paradigm for fertility and chastity education described in The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality. The program encourages autonomy, while providing a supportive community and excellent resources to support mothers in the task of forming their daughters.
Cherry Blossom Buds gives you a beautiful framework in which to present the elements and topics of your choosing, at the time of your choosing.
The Cherry Blossom Buds Program believes in a mother’s ability to take full responsibility for her daughter’s formation. Cherry Blossom Buds does not tell you what to teach, how to teach, or when to teach your daughter various elements or topics associated with fertility and chastity education. Rather, it gives you a beautiful framework in which to present the elements and topics of your choosing, at the time of your choosing. The Cherry Blossom Buds Program is completed at home, where the mother develops her own curriculum based on the individual needs and development of her daughter. It enables mothers to create an individualized program and treat each child as unique.
The goal of the association is to form a community where mothers are encouraged, supported, and mentored in their task of forming their daughters in a true vision of Catholic womanhood.
Cherry Blossom Buds also involves participation in an association. A Cherry Blossom Buds Association is a group of mothers and daughters who are committed to The Cherry Blossom Buds Program. The goal of the association is to form a community where mothers are encouraged, supported, and mentored in their task of forming their daughters in a true vision of Catholic womanhood. Members of an association meet once a month at their designated parish for recitation of the rosary, refreshments, and fellowship. Each association sponsors an annual mother-daughter day of reflection, and hosts additional age-appropriate events throughout the year.
Answering the Call
“The normal and fundamental method, already proposed in this guide, is personalized dialogue between parents and their children that is individual formation within the family circle.”
The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, 129
Becoming a young woman is such a special time . . . Do you remember the first time you wore make-up and high heels? Do you remember your first crush, how about your first dance? Do you remember how you learned about the birds-and-the-bees?
Most mothers rely on outside programs to prepare their daughters for menstruation and the changes that take place during puberty. Many take their daughters to a class sponsored by the diocesan family life office or t
he local Catholic hospital. These programs are often excellent and exist to be a support to mothers in their task of forming and educating their daughters. These programs are also fully supported by the Church and are available and encouraged for all mothers who need and desire them; however, according to the Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, the Church actually has a preferred method for fertility and chastity education, a vision where parents are the primary educators and children receive formation in human sexuality in the home. It is a vision that, at first, may seem challenging, but, through God’s grace, and in living out His design for married love and sexuality, is one that becomes very attainable!!
Cherry Blossom Buds is a program that empowers mothers to answer the call and take full responsibility for their daughter’s fertility and chastity formation.
Cherry Blossom Buds is a program that empowers mothers to answer the call and take full responsibility for their daughter’s fertility and chastity formation. Cherry Blossom Buds believes in YOU and your ability to pass on to your daughter the truth about the gift of her fertility. The program believes that YOU are the person best equipped to help her discover who she is at her core and embrace the true meaning of her femininity.
Are you ready to “reclaim your task?” Cherry Blossom Buds wants to support and encourage you in this mission!!