Earlier in the week, something caught me off guard. Teen pregnancy is nothing new but the excessive number of girls pregnant at one local high school in Memphis is absurd. Notice I said girls not women. It is babies having babies. At some point we must stop the cycle. The teaching begins at home to practice safe sex. If you are going to participate in sexual encounters, you must learn to protect yourself. Since the 7th grade sex education has been stressed. The most important factor is to wait! There is so much going on in a young girl's life that sex should be really on the back burner. Just think about how much freedom you have without a baby. You can go anywhere, do anything, and be carefree. Don't get me wrong yes you can work, go to school, and take care of a child but it’s extremely HARD. Waiting until you are married and stable financially is always good. Don't go with the hype of it FEELS good without a condom. If you LOVE me, you will. We been together for a couple of weeks now and all your friends are doing it, so why not you? Think about it having a baby at 16 nowadays makes you a statistic.
No one wants to be a statistic. Now the teaching starts at home to me because people outside your home don't know your situation. Sex is nothing to be embarrassed about but walking the halls of your middle or high school can make it embarrassing. As parents if we teach our children the pros and cons of sex maybe we wouldn't have a rate of teen pregnancy that is twice the states rate. Everyone is thinking how can we change the situation. Let these girls know that it is not CUTE! My mother couldn't talk enough about staying a virgin all through school and don't let peer pressure get the best of me. Especially in schools if you have maybe 5 pregnant girls in one grade level or overall, separate them from the rest of the young ladies. We are condoling that's it is OK but it isn't. If there are no sex education classes being given, then maybe there should be one. It doesn't hurt to talk about it. Show the young ladies and men how to properly put on a condom. Many out here don't know. Let them know where they can get free contraception from, if the feel like their parents wouldn't understand. Hello ladies we do have birth control and taken regularly as prescribed daily is effective. I am not saying go out there and have sex and get girls pregnant.
I am saying be SMART. After the young ladies become pregnant, then the morning sickness starts, swollen ankles, pain that is unbearable. A lot of our young ladies have figures that you want to keep, being pregnant and having a baby doesn't return your body to the way it was before. If you look at actresses or musicians or anyone famous that has ever been pregnant and say my body will look like that again. You are lying to yourself. Most of these pregnant girls walking around don't come from money but struggling households, and single parent houses. If you don't like something, CHANGE it. I would really like to see less of our young ladies walking around with bellies or child or children on their hips. I want to see more of our young ladies networking for jobs, accepting rewards, and finishing high school and college. No one has to agree with me but these are just my thoughts. Teen pregnancy has been going on forever. As a community we should stand together and say enough is enough.
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ReplyDeleteYes! A blog about safe sex! I wish the whole debate about whether or not it should be the school system's job to inform students about the practices of safe sex or abstinence options, would just disappear. Young individuals need to know how to protect their bodies, and if we're required to have "Health" class then why not have some extensive explanations on the heath risks of unprotected sex. Educational explanations about what can happen if you don't choose to protect yourself. Pregnancy, STDs and STIs are avoidable things.
ReplyDeleteBirth Control is FREE for women attending school.
I too want to see more young ladies networking, FINISHING their education, and being able to have the experience of life in their 20's.
Growing up should be a choice.
More knowledge leads to better choices. Better choices lead to a better life.
I totally agree, then what also makes it even more worse is that Mtv decides to have a show about it. To me, that basically screams "Have sex, get pregnant then you get to be on tv!" Sex education is VERY important like you said and people should fight more to get the word out on how many options you have and what to do. Not just teen pregnancy is ridiculous, the number of people walking around with HIV/AIDS and other STDs is also very ridiculous. You're absolutely right about it starting at home, but ya know kids will be kids so many of them tend to disregard everything they've been taught and do it anyway. But if more people would just ban together and try to stop the problem, then those who decide to engage in sexual activity will be more aware of what they are getting themselves into.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you're saying also. It's alot of teens getting pregnant trying to "save" their relationship that's already gone down the drain. I've seen SOOOOOOOOO many girls be happy when they find out their pregnant, but when reality sets in and they realize they left their childhood to raise a baby with a boy that doesn't want to be there anymore, its saddening. We can have Sex Ed classes, and have the childs parents talk to them, but in the end its THEIR decision and no one can make it but them. We just have to be a helping hand and hope they make the right choice.
ReplyDeleteYea I think girls should be concentrating more on their education rather than worrying about some boy loving them or not. They should realize that they are young and have a whole life ahead of them and that becoming an adult that fast is going to be REALLY hard on them, because it's hard enough being an adult and raising children already. They should just enjoy their young lives.
ReplyDelete