Chlamydia on the rise.....

According to a news release by the Centers for Disease Control,over a million new cases of the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia were reported last year.Think about that for a moment-thats just the cases that are actually diagnosed and reported!Sadly,I suspect many of those cases are younger adults who are not using safe sex practices and while I know abstinence is %100 fool-proof,it is also naive to think that it is the ONLY method of protection.
I am going to put my mother hat on briefly and say that while so many people are preaching abstinence to teens and pre-teens,we need to be a little realistic when approaching this subject with our kids.While my own child is years away from "the talk",I already know what message I want to send and that is that even though I HOPE she will wait until she is older and/or in a long term relationship before she has sex,I also want her to know how to protect herself.
Heres my analogy-if you have a swimming pool you can tell the kiddies not to get in the water unsupervised until you are blue in the face,but you are still going to erect a safety fence AND teach him/her how to swim,arent you?
My own Mother was way ahead of her time and on my 15th birthday she insisted upon my seeing a doctor and getting on the pill.Keep in mind this was before AIDS was really a widespread concern.Although I begged off and swore up and down I would never need the pills,she had the sense to know better than I did at the time and I am so grateful she was so open about it with her kids.Did being on the pill make me go out and start having sex?No-but when I did decide to take the plunge,I didnt become another statistic by having a child before I was ready.In fact,I did not have my child until I was married and in my thirties,at a time when the less fortunate girls my age were dealing with teenagers at home.
I didnt realize how lucky I was until one of my school chums learned I was on the Pill and exclaimed"I could NEVER ask my Mom for birth control pills"Suprisingly to me,most of my peers couldnt even bring up S-E-X to their parents,let alone how to prevent pregnancy,and some of these parents became young unwilling grandparents as a result.My Mother worked in the medical field and had seen her share of teenage mothers and was determined not to let it happen to her children.
Of course now pregnancy is the least of your worries when contemplating unprotected sex,and a "Pill" alone wont cut it anymore.Recent studies have shown that kids are becoming sexually active at much earlier ages than ever and alarmingly,many of them believe as long as they stick to oral sex,they arent "really having sex".THAT is a dangerous misconception-because while it will not cause pregnancy,ALL sexually transmitted diseases can be spread this way and all the sex education in the world will not help unless the parents do their job and be frank and open with their children about sex AT HOME.You can tell your child that you are not condoning or promoting sexual activity,but at the same time they need to know they can come to you if they have questions or concerns or just want to talk.Hopefully,if we parents dont stick our heads in the sand,we can slowly make STD's a thing of the past,like polio.