I have watched parents be vigilant about vaccinating their kids against diseases. I have seen parents spend hours plotting out activities and experiences they want their children to have in preparation for "success" in life. I have witnessed the agony some parents go through making decisions about their child's educational path.
However, there is one area in life that I have seen many parents shy away from and that is the area of talking to their kids about sex and healthy relationships. A lot of parents would prefer that someone else take on that task, which is somewhat surprising considering how interested they are in their children being successful in life.
Consider this:
- 21,000 teens contract a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) every day.
- Nearly one in four sexually active teens are infected with an STD.
- Many of the STDs are symptomless yet cause all kinds of health problems including infertility and even death.
When it comes to children having children, what are the chances that a child born to a teen mother will grow up in poverty? If the mother gives birth as a teen, isn't married when the baby is born and doesn't graduate from high school or get her GED, the chances of her child growing up in poverty is 80 percent. If none of these things happen, the chances of a child growing up in poverty is 6 percent.
Isn't something with such serious ramifications for your child worth talking about?
Your child deserves to know the facts about sex because Sex does have consequences. It can't be a one time conversation. It has to be ongoing learning just like any other subject. Here are some tips for talking to your kids.
Don't put it off. Your kid's future is at stake.
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2 comments:
I think it's really important to stress that contracting an STD or getting pregnant can actually happen to them. It's all too easy to think that that sort of thing won't happen to you when you're that young. For teenagers to realise the consequences it's important not to bulldoze them with scare tactics but to talk to them about the dangers and share real life stories about people you know who contracted an STD or someone you know who got pregnant at a very young age. Speaking about it honestly, having them understand how very real the dangers are and how you can best prevent them using real life scenario's might be better at getting the message through rather than overwhelming them with statistics.
We agree with you!
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