First Rise in teenage births since 1991… and it’s our fault people!

The trend in teenage birth rates has been declining since 1991 but in 2006 that trend went up 3% in the age group of 15-19 year old females. That’s 42 births per 1000 teens in that age group. That’s a staggering fact and one that is easy to explain in my eyes.

The phrase “abstinence” is not in a teenager’s vocabulary and whether it comes down to lack of education, peer pressure or just laziness, our children are having children at an alarming rate!

Somewhere as we grow into adults we forget the things we used to do and the feeling of out of control hormones so we think “my kid isn’t doing that, I taught them well.” You forget that you were doing it and if you weren’t you’ve put your head in the sand by thinking that your kids will do as you do. This isn’t the case and statistically the proof is in the pudding.

Before you raise the race, economic status or religion flag, most statistics will show that this isn’t one segment of the population. It’s a world wide epidemic and it’s up to modified thinking and modified parenting to stop it. Simply teaching abstinence in today’s schools, churches and family circles is not enough! Most churches will stick to planned parenting or abstinence as their main method of teaching adolescence about sex and most schools will give a distorted view and propagate THEIR agenda on your children so in my eyes, sex education belongs to the parent(s), not society.

So you have two options. Teach and preach nothing but abstinence and risk the chance of your child not growing up well adjusted, getting pregnant or even worse; contracting a life long or life threatening disease. Second, you can be a responsible, understanding and an open minded parent and understand that your children will make their own decisions, mistakes and learning experiences and educate them on abstinence, protection and then you can stress the value behind valuing their own bodies and making smart decisions about who they choose to be with.

Education begins in the home and that’s one thing the government cannot take away from us. Teach your children and lead by example. If you shelter them and make sex sound bad it will only enhance their curiosity and they will jump head first without being given the mental tools they need to make a smart decision.

The bottom line is: teens have always engaged in sexual activity and they always will. I’m not saying “give in and encourage your children to have sex.” I am simply saying that educating them is the key to limiting disease and pregnancy in teens. Teach them about sex, teach them to be responsible about sex and you’ll likely see a decline in the number of teens having sex.