When Did You Last Talk Birth Control With Your Teenager?
I’m very late with this post due to an awful tragedy in my family which has left me feeling quite unmotivated to do much work but I had to tell you that October is a really special month from a birth control aspect as it is ‘Let’s Talk Month’ at Planned Parenthood. If you are a parent of a teenager or your child is approaching ‘that turning point’ in their sexual awareness and it’s a while, or never, since you had a talk with your son or daughter about their sexual health, help is only a click away. Check out the information on this site
Tools for Parents - there are some really user friendly resources on the Planned Parenthood site, including an online photo flip book with some great comments inside - I like some of ‘the most awkward parent moments’ as well as ‘the best parent moments’ and the video is worth watching too. An online social networking experience will guide you through the steps of developing messages to give your children and helps you to go about having a chat about them all.
As a parent you CAN help your teenager to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Do you REALLY know how sexually active your teenage son or daughter is? Have you done your bit to make sure that if/when they say ‘yes’ they can manage their birth control competently? I hope that you at least have some idea of what’s ‘going on’ in this hugely important sector of your teenager’s development (AND I know how difficult it can be to find out!) but be prepared to be taken aback at what you may discover when you’re honoured with some feedback! Peers and even same sex friends can pass on inaccurate information, myths and half truths when it comes to sharing tales about sexual adventures so take a deep breath if you feel uncomfortable and love your child enough to do this. Your teenager may think that you know nothing about what ‘everybody’s doing’ these days but you can quickly link them up with exactly what they need to be safe sexually and to qualify future partners for nourishing relationships.
Planned Parenthood states ” By the time they’re 19, seven out of 10 teens have had sex. Two thousand teens get pregnant in the U.S. every day and teens have very high rates of sexually transmitted infections.”
We never stop growing up despite how experienced we think we are so before October comes to an end I encourage you to take this opportunity to do the right thing by someone you love, awkward though it may be and give them the best support you can to help them navigate their sexual relationships and ‘contraception career’ safely and with confidence.
