Sex Ed For Teens Doesn't Come In a Box

The premise of birth control and STD vaccines is to allow for sex without pregnancy or disease. The key word here is allow, and teens process its meaning quickly and often decipher it as sex without consequences. 

However, teens are not emotionally equipped to withstand the psychological effects of sex. They are not mature enough to fully understand the implications of sexual intimacy, but still, many parents are willing to supply them with everything they need for the "go-ahead" under the assumption that it's safe. Condoms break, there is no cure for herpes or AIDS and the birth control pill boasts a plethora of side-effects and risks other than merely preventing pregnancy. HPV vaccines recommended for girls as young as nine are a tacit approval for future promiscuity. 

And the emotions, let's not underestimate the mind-games people often play in relationships, and how sex intensifies the underlying feelings of those games whether they are good, indifferent or psychotic. Good feelings often accompany naivety, bad feelings sometimes result in a pattern of unfaithfulness brought about by insecurity. Psychotic tendencies are a crapshoot for everyone, but "Fatal Attraction" certainly comes to mind. 

Considering there are many adults who still haven't learned how to control their emotions, it's anyone's guess what might be going on in a teen's mind after the break-up of a sexually charged relationship.

Putting your teen daughter on the pill doesn't make her more sophisticated. Nor is it hip, or does it put your daughter on the cutting edge of medical innovation to take her to the doctor for a series of HPV vaccines, which by the way, only protects against four strains of the Human Papillomavirus.

Giving your teen son a box of condoms only puts more pressure on him to perform like a rodeo bull in a widening ring of spectators known as peers. Yes, I do mean peer pressure.

Instead of supplying teens with an arsenal of weapons for a battle they hardly understand, let them know in real words you don't want their health or lifestyle compromised because of sex. Avoid sending your teen the mixed messages, "Don't have sex, but here's a few things to help you along just in case." There should be no gray area between yes and no when it comes to teens.

Demand, expect and repeat ad nauseam, the concept of abstinence through your child's teen years. It may not guarantee it through their twenties and thirties, but teens deserve to have clear, undebatable limits they can rely upon when it comes to important decisions such as sex. 

Condoms, birth control and STD vaccines don't set boundaries for teens, only parents can do that.