Hey guys! Wanna get laid???

[Skorixor]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050902/ap_ ... regnancies

apparently H.S. chicks in Canton OH are pretty slutty...

and not very knowledgable about birth control...

[Jabe Adaks]

I recently went on vacation there.. I did apologize 64 times, what else do those people want??? Sheesh.

Jabe

[Dwilah]

Has the stigma of unwed motherhood lost its edge?

What the crap is with this statement? I read it and was just like uh....YEAH. Let's build back those walls that people have been breaking down (whether it's from sheer number of occurence IE numbing to the situation or an actual acceptance) and put young mothers more on the fringe, isolating both the young people who are dealing with the consequences of their actions and a massive push into something the traditional American system says they're not ready for yet, AND the children they're going to be having.

People should be teaching safe sex and the consequences of unsafe sex...sex ed is a joke if it gets taught at all, at least where I've gone to school. There are a few nit picky details that I never knew until I took a unversity marriage and family class where the professor gave us extra information that wasn't required, and when I told a friend....well, she didn't know either, and she could have used the information to save herself and her partner from a really tough choice.

You could argue that everyone should educate themselves on the things they do, and I believe that everyone should. But for the most part I think that students trust the educational system and when teachers say, here's the way to not get pregnant and here's how you DO get pregnant...it seems like common sense. Without going into not-really-PG-13 details, there are some things about human biology that aren't common sense and require a little extra effort beyond abstain, pull out, or rubber up. They might be small percentages towards making that baby but they count, and maybe people will make the decision to have relatively unsafe sex anyway...because I mean hell, sex is what we all (or most people) like to do. We're made to do it and we get caught up in the moment. It overrides common sense pretty often.

But, as most people who have been or know someone who's been affected by a tragedy that could have been preventable, I'm adamant that prevention can happen and that since the school systems are already half-assing it, they should go the extra step. Especially when SO many people are being affected...families of daughters and sons, the daughters and sons, and the children of the daughters and sons. All of them have serious emotional and financial hurdles to face as they continue or start their lives.

[X'an Shin]

Where the hell was all this action when I was in High School?

I mean, without that whole "baby" thing.

[Keer]

This brings up a good topic.

How, as a current/future/possible parent of a teenager, would you influence your child against teen mother/fatherhood? Not the schools but you as a parent.

Personally, I consider myself lucky in that I learned about this particular part of life on my own and then very accurately by the time I was old enough to get myself in trouble. I had very progressive parents, but this is one thing I felt that they should have started earlier on.

Especially nowadays, I would not want to leave any future children hanging out there beyond 11-12 years old. I guess for me, I'd pull all of mine aside and just run it down to them straight. There are definately enough examples around to help drive the point home. No doom and gloom and no scare tactics. Just plain honest talk.

What would y'all do?

[X'an Shin]

How, as a current/future/possible parent of a teenager, would you influence your child against teen mother/fatherhood? Not the schools but you as a parent.

"Get pregnant before you're 25 and I will MURDER you."

[Keer]

How, as a current/future/possible parent of a teenager, would you influence your child against teen mother/fatherhood? Not the schools but you as a parent.

"Get pregnant before you're 25 and I will MURDER you."

That's a double murder, man! You evil heathen you!

[Jabe Adaks]

How, as a current/future/possible parent of a teenager, would you influence your child against teen mother/fatherhood? Not the schools but you as a parent.

"Get pregnant before you're 25 and I will MURDER you."

That's a double murder, man! You evil heathen you!

Yeah you sick bastard... Sheesh. We may as well send you to San Quentin now!

Jabe

[X'an Shin]

That's a double murder, man! You evil heathen you!

Yeah you sick bastard... Sheesh. We may as well send you to San Quentin now!

Guilty as charged, and I could use the vacation. ;P

[Li'ith]

I didn't bother to read the link.

However, having already brought a teenage girl through all that, here are my suggestions:

1. Tell them yourself, don't leave it up to the schools.
2. Get help. Back in my day, "Our Bodies, Our Selves" was very helpful. (don't open to the middle; that picture freaked my daughter big time)
3. With a daughter, tell her before she hits 13. (By that age, and until she is about 20, you are the "enemy" who doesn't know anything and has to be protected from the knowledge she is gaining. It takes awhile for most girls to figure out that they wouldn't be here if you and your wife didn't already know all that stuff.)
4. You guys, you tell her about what and how boys think as teenagers. You are, after all, experts on that.
5. Demonstrate loving affection with your wife in front of your children from the start...hold hands, hug, kiss, rub backs, play. And let the children know that there are times for adults, when children must let the adults alone...and not just for doing bills.
6. Above all, don't think that she is an innocent. By the time these kids are ten, they already have enough misinformation about sex and love that they could write books.

I'm sorry that I'm throwing seriousness into this exchange...but you all seem a little afraid of the subject.