Sex Education or Abstinence Only? What Do I do?
The first thing I have to say in appreciation for the teenager who is bold enough to speak to their parents about this is, “Way to go kiddo, thank you for opening up the discussion with your parents” The second thing to be aware of is the fact that the teenager felt comfortable enough with you to come to you and they did not settle for getting condoms or information about them from their peers. Way to go mom and Dad.
As Christian parents, quite naturally parents would hope that their teen will comply with the approach of abstinence, “No pre marital sex” and “Abstinence only” using more of a fear tactic and address the statistics of STD’s and Teenage pregnancy. With the culture of our society growing more and more sex driven it is quite easy to become antiquated with our approach to teens on the subject.
Here are some thoughts to ponder parents, If you sent your child to a swimming pool daily, never taught them how to swim, as your child watches his friends jump in and swim, do you think your child will jump in with his friends at least once? If he or she jumps in without knowing how to swim, what is the probability that your child will drown? Times have drastically changed and they will continue to change as we move forward but education is key.
Is buying condoms for your child condoning them to have sex? Leave your thoughts and comments below.
Here are Some Helpful facts
- The biggest users of online pornography are 12-to 17-year-old boys.
- Shows with sexual content average 4.4 scenes per hour.
- Predators online will approach 1 in 5 children.
- 1998 and 2005, brought the number of sexual scenes on TV to double the previous years.
- Studies show that 72% of teens think watching TV with a lot of sexual content influences their peers’ behavior somewhat or a lot.
- Teens and Young adults between the ages of 15-to 24-year-account for nearly half of all STD diagnoses each year.
- The chances that your teenager will have sex at an early ages will increase if they watch shows with sexual content often and if they listen to sexually explicit music lyrics.
- More than 50% of female video game characters are presented in a sexual fashion.
- Music videos contain 93 sexual situations per hour, including 11 hard-core scenes depicting behavior like intercourse and oral sex on average
Use Common Sense
- Stress your values and beliefs to your child- The fact is, as parents we cannot always be where they are. Therefore it is unrealistic to expect that we can cover our children from everything. By sharing your beliefs and values when you are with them, you can help them form an opinion for their lives..
- Be aware of what your child listens to-Listen to what your child deems as normal lyrics and behavior. When a sexy song comes on the radio, do they say the lyrics with no shame or do they respect you enough not to? This is an indicator tht your child knows what is right and what is not right. Sexually..
- Comply with their age- According to child development experts; kids ages 5-7 can handle the concept of boy/girl relationships. They are not ready for anything more explicit than that. 8- to 10-year-olds can handle body-part jokes but cannot handle sexual humor. When your child becomes an adolescent, challenges start. 11- to 12-year-olds will watch scenes of simple kissing and boy/girl social dynamics are fine keep in mind however, that graphic nudity and simulated sex the worst when they are developing ideas about what sex is. Social Media exposes them early to all of it..
Stay aware of the websites your child visits; keep them at age appropriate access as much as you can.
Speak to your kids about mistakes you have made and ones that you have heard about in an attempt to prove that there are consequences to their decisions on sex. Be totally honest with them an address the fact that sexual desires are natural and they indicate healthy body functions, however they are be controlled and not under the control of the desires they experience.
