What a great report! It’s good to know that if my children decide someday to start having sex in high school, it won’t affect their grades.
Ignore the legality of the issue, or the morality of it. Let’s just focus on the positive, since we all know there’s absolutely nothing that can be done to instill in children the importance of abstinence until marriage.
Thanks goodness for such good news. I particularly like the stunning comment towards the end of the article from a professor of public health.
The study dispels the notion that all teen sex is bad, said Marie Harvey, professor of public health at Oregon State University.
No, it doesn’t. It simply indicates that certain types of sexual relationships don’t negatively impact studies. That’s hardly a surprise. It’s just amazing to see how far our culture has come so quickly in encouraging kids to have sex ‘safely’. There are far more important aspects of a teen’s life than just their studies. It’s not as though the abstinence promoted by all three major Western religions is built around creating better scholars.
And is it me, or does this article nowhere differentiate between teens who can legally engage in sexual activity, as opposed to minors for whom it is a criminal offense? Does this article basically just state that teens – legal or otherwise – just need to be having safe sex and all is well?
Living Apologetics 
August 20, 2010 at 10:31 pm |
That article made me want to hurl. As youths, my Husband and I were unfortunately once very liberal – if it feels good, do it – type of people but have since seen the error of our old ways and, prior to having children, became very conservative. We are raising our four children to believe there are special steps they must take, in a specific order, to grow up as respectable members of society.
1. Finish school, including 4+ years of college.
2. Get your career started.
3. Start seriously dating to find a mate for life.
4. Get married and (if you want) have children.
I know this may seem totally unrealistic, but it does my heart good to hear my 5-year-old daughter ask me when she sees a man and woman kissing, “Mommy, are they married?” I only pray that the influences of other children won’t tarnish her or her siblings belief system…we shall see.
August 20, 2010 at 11:32 pm |
Lots of folks go through that stage. It fits pretty well in many respects to the nature of youth in general – impetuous, impassioned, and certain that the great Truths of life have been misunderstood by everyone older than 22. What’s the old lament? Too soon old and too late smart?
There’s an interesting discussion to be had regarding what qualifies someone as “respectable members of society”. Your list is good food for thought. We need to be talking with our kids early on about life and the elements in it that we see as crucial and valuable. And of course we need to be modeling those things as well as much as possible. There are lots of opportunities to talk with kids about what we believe and why we believe it – why it’s so important. Kids are going to be exposed to a lot of different ideas and attitudes at younger and younger ages. By starting and continuing an atmosphere where kids know they can ask questions and get answers – answers that they see consistent in their parents lives – it helps to build the relationship so that when the Big Questions start coming up, we’re able to hear each other and communicate.
Tarnish will happen – Satan is alive and kickin’. But we teach kids (and ourselves) that tarnish is just that – and give them the tools to keep questioning where the tarnish comes from, and see the beauty of the polish and finish that remains underneath.
April 12, 2011 at 10:18 pm |
I have wanted to publicate something like tip on my website and this gave me excellent idea. Thank You!