By Amy Johnson, Sex in the Suburbs
May 7 is the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
With partners like the American Academy of Pediatrics, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, MySpace and over 150 more national, state and local partners, the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy hopes to raise awareness of teen pregnancy via an online quiz at StayTeen.org. According to their Web site (www.thenationalcampaign.org), “The purpose of the National Day is to focus the attention of teens on the importance of avoiding too-early pregnancy and parenthood.” The message of the campaign this year is “Sex has consequences.”
With over 30 percent of American women becoming pregnant before age 20 and over half of the annual 3 million unplanned pregnancies in the United States occurring to women in their twenties, this is an issue that still needs attention. Here are some more facts you may not know about teen and unplanned pregnancies.
• Teens say parents most influence their decisions about sex.
• The U.S. still leads the fully industrialized world in teen pregnancy and birth rates — by a wide margin. In fact, the U.S. rates are nearly double those of Great Britain, at least four times those of France and Germany, and more than 10 times that of Japan.
• About two-thirds of sexually active teens wish they had waited longer before becoming sexually active.
• Seven out of 10 adults believe reducing unwanted pregnancy in the U.S. is an important goal (www.thenationalcampaign.org/resources).
Also available on this Web site are tips to help your children avoid teen pregnancy. At the risk of repeating myself, these tips include: Be clear about your own sexual values; talk with your children early and often about sex and be specific; supervise and monitor your children’s activities; know your children’s friends and their families; know what your kids are watching; and develop and maintain a close relationship with your child. The information on the site goes into more depth and explanation of each tip.
Remember that women of any age who have an unplanned pregnancy are less likely to get prenatal care, and are at higher risk for having premature birth and low birth weight children, which puts their babies at risk for developmental, physical and mental health challenges. This becomes all of our problem when we are using our community, state and national financial, medical and educational resources to help these children and families.
Aside from taking the above seriously as a parent, what else can we do? Two avenues include contacting Communities In Schools to be a mentor in the schools, or, if you are a senior, contact the Federal Way Senior Center to become part of the new partnership between the senior center and elementary students in an after school program. Many other programs are available in the schools and community.
Wherever you go, you will probably need a state background check and some training before you begin, which is a small investment of time for a large return in the health and well-being of our future.
Amy Johnson, MSW, is a professional life and parent coach in Federal Way. She facilitates faith, sexuality and parenting classes in the area. Contact:
comments@diligentjoy.com.
