How's that abstinence only education working out?

Well, if we ever needed more proof that abstinence only education doesn't work; Sarah Palin and her family have provided it. Palin's 17 year old daughter is pregnant; and she is going to marry the father and keep the baby. That is her choice and while it is not one I would have made her age; democrats have made sure she has that choice.

There are larger issues at here than one young woman; and as to Miss Palin I will say no more. She is entitled to her privacy. The broader issues of abstinence education and emotional intelligence; are not off limits, however. I believe it is time we have this discussion on a national level, so here's my take on some of it.

Abstinence only doesn't work; it's actually counter-intuitive when you think about it. Tell any child they can't do something and the first thing they want to do is that exact thing. Part of it is simply growing up; testing boundaries another part of it is knowing that if Mom and Dad say no, it must be fun or cool. I know when I was a child I thought that way. The bottom line is some teenagers are going to have sex no matter what we say or do. It's inevitable, we all need to get over it. As long as there are teeenagers, cars and hormones some child somewhere is going to have sex. I think it is much more important that we educate our children about safe sex; it's not just a matter of teenage pregnancy it is also a health issue. STD's are prevalent among teens and something needs to be done to curtail that.

The other thing we have always neglected to talk to our children about when discussing sex is the emotional intelligence factor. Having sex involves more than just having sex there is an emotional component and most teens are not ready for that. We are raised with these fairytales of perfect love and mr right and 'the one' most adolescents without even realizing it have bought into the fantasy; at least girls have. During adolescence what is perceived of as love is generally just raging hormones-don't get me wrong I'm all for raging hormones and have no problem with pre-marital sex. (Heaven knows I've had my share of wild, monkey sex just for the sake of sex.) But we need to let our children know that the first blush of sexual curiosity is not love it's just hormones. We need to teach our children it's okay to experiment but maybe certain things need to be explored when they are older.

All too often young girls who get pregnant are searching for something. Some one to take of or someone to take care them. Someone to love as it were.