You have GOT to be kidding me............

[Blackbird]

Good thing we are all able to voice our opinions and have our own ideas & thoughts then!

 

[lupinfarm]

Good thing we are all able to voice our opinions and have our own ideas & thoughts then!

lol...

 

[redux]

oh GOOD!! if i had kids that age i'd be glad to buy them condoms and have them around the house. i'm glad younger kids can learn to be safe and healthy!

The operable word in your post is.....

"IF"

You apparently don't. No wonder the rest of your post says what it says......

That is not fair. I have a child. I don't want her to have sex, yet she does. I want her to use condoms when she does.

Me telling her to just say no is useless. Kids do what they want to do and you can't be with them 24-7. Best to teach them to protect themselves.

 

[bibliophile birds]

Well, I for one, am preaching abstinence.

i think that the most practical parents should stress abstinence but prepare them for every eventuality. remember that whole "pregnancy pact" thing in the news a couple years ago? it happened in a town where almost everyone was a "good Catholic" who stressed abstinence and nothing else. obviously that failed, for so many reasons.

i would probably tell my children what i told my brother- if nothing else, just wait until you are out of high school. not only do high schoolers have no business having sex, but almost everyone i know who had sex in high school eventually regretted something about it. maybe it was who they slept with or why they slept with them or what happened as a result, but sex in high school is never everything kids expect it to be.

plus, if you can make it through high school without having sex, your probably going to be much better prepared to make good decisions.

 

[reinbeau]

Parenting is a very personal thing, what we choose to teach our children comes from what we were taught, and our own life experiences. The moral code you choose to raise your children with is something you are going to feel strongly about, and it really isn't going to be settled until you have a child of your own. Let's keep this discussion free of judgement and sarcasm, something that is dragging many threads on this forum down.

 

[Dace]

Also keep in mind that it is not abstinence or free range (for lack of a better word!)...those are the two extremes, there is a middle ground....such as accepting that your children are eventually going to make their own choices, so arming them with not only your moral compass but also appropriate information to help them make an educated decision not just fall victim to impulse.

I think that as some have mentioned keeping lines of communication open between parent and children is important....both MTN and Abi are on the same page there.....as long as our children feel they can talk to us about it that will avoid some potential problems.

I think that no matter what our personal opinions are on how or when children should be taught about sex .....we all probably agree that when children start having sex at too early of an age it is just not good. Not good for their emotional development, future relationships, health risks and the chance of an unwanted pregnancy.

 

[ScottSD]

Good thing we are all able to voice our opinions and have our own ideas & thoughts then!

Oh, I think we can have our own ideas and thoughts....we just can't vocalize them.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Sure we can. Civility goes a loooong way.

Dace, I'm with you there. There is only so much I can do to insure my kids stay safe, whether it is sex, drugs or... rock & roll, lol. Once they get to a certain point it becomes "Let them fly free & hope they have absorbed enough good behavior & self-discipline to stay on a smart path."

 

[miss_thenorth]

such as accepting that your children are eventually going to make their own choices,

Exactly. My children know how we feel about this, they know the consequences, they know our past experiences. We have taught them from the get-go how to make good choices. I will continue to preach abstinence. And they know that. After that, I can only HOPE that they make good choices. right now, and I plan on keeping it this way, our communication is wide open. If they ever plan on having sex I am hoping we can talk about THEIR choice. After that, we will go from there. If THEY choose to have sex, it will be safe sex. I am not unrealistic here. I was a teenager once, obviiously, so I know what its like. I could only wish that my parents had been open about discussing premarital sex, it might have saved me alot of grief.

 

[sylvie]

Personally, I would never ask "where are your extra-small rubbers". I of course would require the extra-large products.

...a legend in his own mind......

You two crack me up!