Wednesday, March 12, 2008

1 in 4

Let's talk about this new study claiming that 1 in 4 teenage girls has some form of STD. I was floored by this and very disturbed. Maybe it all goes back to my naivety and the fact that I can still measure my daughter's age in months but this seems like an epidemic. I'd like to get the back story on the numbers. The sample was 838 young women but I don't know if they were taken from several regions or how they were obtained. Regardless, these numbers are scary, really scary.



I wonder what the same study would have shown if it were taken during my teen years: 1988-1994. Would they have been much different? I think so but I may be naïve and was, without a doubt, a total prude at age 16. I can only hope that my daughter is a naïve prude like I was. Now I've got to decide on a tactic. Got any ideas? Open communication? Threats? A pregnant suit? Fear? Religious fanaticism? My options, at this point, are wide open.



7 comments:

  1. The stats are scary indeed. Maybe get yourself a couple back yard horses. It's graphic, startling, and you get certain results in 11 months. If the back yard is too small, my teacher daughter is always trying to give away baby miniature hamsters. :P (She's also doing small scale sex education at the Montessori school.

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  2. First of all, remind yourself three out of four teenaged girls do NOT have STDS. As for an epidemic, I graduated from high school in 1962 in rural Iowa...there were 35 graduates and there were at least half a dozen girls who either dropped out because of pregnancy or married right after high school because they "had to." I was one of the prudes, and so are my daughters..so maybe it's genetic!

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  3. Of all the options you listed, I like threats, pregnant suit and fear the best. Not necessarily in that order.

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  4. I'm unsure if prude is the right word. I do think it is discipline based. Some kids get anything and everything. Can't accept "no", can't say "no." To me discipline is first, good decision making skills second. It's hard to watch a child live with a bad decision. But, helping them learn at a young age will drive the consequences home and teach them to make good decisions as teenagers. Finally, peer pressure. Teach them they don't have to do or shouldn't want to do what every one else is doing. If I sound like an old grandma, I am. And have three beautiful blondies that I worry about in the same way. Didn't mean to preach. Just trying to help.

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  5. Be the cool mom and let them have all their friends over and buy them alcohol and let their boyfriends sleep over and pretend you don't see them when they are smoking pot on the back porch because I think that is the surest way to get your kids to like you. I'm sorry. . .what was the question again?

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  6. I was using the word "prude" with tongue in cheek. I agree with nsgee1, especially in regard to decision making and standing up to peer pressure. Am I the only one wondering about STDS in teenage males? Whatever you teach your daughter is just as important for your son. After all, there are also some grim consequences for males who have early sex: forced marriage, 18 years of child support, and/or statutory rape charges if he is 18 and she is 17.

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  7. I absolutely do not believe studies or news reports, for that matter. Studies must be done in order for to gain grants, PhDs, etc., so new ones must constantly be conducted on all sorts of attention grabbing subject matter. Also, have you ever actually met someone who's been part of a "study?" I haven't.

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