Sex Involving Teens:

Fact:One in two sexually active young people will contract an STD by age 25. Find a health center and get tested.



Standards

Standard 1: The student will demonstrate the ability to implement decision making and goal setting skills to promote his/her personal health and wellness, thereby enhancing quality of life for him/herself and those around him/her

Learning Expectations:
1.1 Analyze the effectiveness of personal decision making as it relates to future health and wellness outcomes.
1.5 Identify choices and examine alternatives and consequences of each choice when making decisions as it relates to healthy living.

SPI:Identify sexual feelings common to adolescents and differeniate between having sexual feelings and acting on them.
SPI:Identify reasons for abstaining from sexual activity (e.g. unplanned pregnancy, infections, infertility, and life -long wellness.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Are YOU Absintence Proof?

What Abstinence Is
To make a long story short, abstinence (also called celibacy) means different things to different people. For most, it means that a person is not having sexual intercourse. However, people define sexual intercourse differently, too: Some people consider anal and oral sex to be sexual intercourse, while other people don't. What matters most is that you know your own definition of abstinence and communicate it clearly to your partner.

What Abstinence Isn't
Abstinence isn't limited to people who are very religious or scared of sex. It's a choice like any other. And you can be a sexual person and an abstinent person at the same time.

You can practice it whether you're straight, gay or bi, and you get to decide your own reasons for doing it. For some people, these reasons are moral or religious, for others they have to do with preventing pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Lots of people are abstinent simply because they want to make sure they're ready for all of the emotions and responsibility that go along with being sexually active.



TIPS:
Abstinence is the only 100% effective form of birth control and the only way you can guarantee you won't catch an STD.

If you aren't a virgin you can still choose abstinence with pride, you are not a hypocrite if you say yes one time and no another, even if it is to the same person.

Having sex is a big deal and abstaining from sex is more than acceptable. Despite what rumors and gossip may suggest, virgins are a majority in most high schools, not a minority.

If you kiss sombody passionately or get into heavy fooling around this does not mean that you have to go all the way and it does not make you a tease.

Intimacy takes many forms, intercourse is not the only or best way to show somebody the depth of you feelings. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

To Do It or Not To Do It....



To do it or not to do it... that is the question that plagues many teens. A mixture of hormones and social pressures make the drive to become sexually active very strong.

Many teens make the mistake of giving into their urges without thinking things through. Sex is more than just a pleasurable act; it is a physical risk and an emotional gamble. Here we list eight things to consider before having sex.

Be Sure You Are Really Ready
You may think you are ready, but do you KNOW that you are? Your body is sending you some confusing signals and your heart and mind just don't seem to agree about what you should do. You should know and trust your partner and yourself because once you have sex you can't take it back. Be smart, be sure and be ready if you want to have sex with no regrets.

Protect Yourself From Sexually Transmitted Infections
STIs, or sexually transmitted infections, are often one of the last things a teen thinks about when they become sexually active. During the immortal teen years things like illness and disease don't seem real so they are not considered important. This can be a life altering, even fatal, mistake. The fact is teens do have to have to worry. You should have this covered before having sex.

Protect Yourself From Pregnancy
When it comes to the risk of pregnancy teens are more realistic than they are when it comes to STIs. Teens know that having unprotected sex can lead to unwanted pregnancy. However, far too many boys still see this sort of protection as a girls problem and don't take proper precautions to protect themselves unless the girl insists. Boys need to think about birth control just as much as girls.

Know Why You Want to Have Sex
When hormones are raging it is very easy to confuse lustful urges for feelings of true love. The sense of desire brought on during puberty is new and it can be hard for a teen to know what to do with it. Add things like peer pressure, insecurity and the quest for independence to the mix and it could spell disaster. Your only defense is to be honest with yourself about why you want to have sex.

Remember That It's OK to Say No to Sex
It is a sad irony that being a "tease" and being "easy" are both considered bad. These labels speak to the immaturity with which many teens view sex. Having sex is not about what others think of you but what you think of yourself. You are the one who has to live in your skin so only you should dictate what you do with it. It is always OK to say no to sex. You should never go against your inner guide.

Sex Education in Schools?


Should sex education be taught in schools? Do you think sex education in schools would help prevent teen sex? Teen pregnancy? Teens contracting STD's?

Will teaching sex education in schools help or hurt?

As Parents, What Can We Do To Help?


We want our children to grow up to have healthy and happy lives. For most of us, this includes having rewarding relationships and sex lives.

To help them reach this goal,we need to give them the information they need to make responsible choices encourage them to take good care of their bodies help them build the confidence they need to respect themselves and other people earn their respect — if we can do that, they are more likely to look to us and other trusted adults for information when they need it

Teaching our children about sexuality is an ongoing process. They need a lot of information. They need to know about everything from anatomy to puberty to masturbation to healthy relationships.

Our children don’t all learn at the same rate. But here are some general guidelines that apply to most kids. They’re about what children need to know and what communication skills they need to have when it comes to sex and sexuality. We have grouped them according to what is appropriate for different age groups. We hope they are helpful.

Sex Involving Teens



While a recent study suggested sexy media images might be to blame, a new study shows kids might also be motivated by relationship goals like intimacy and social status.


Teens want their relationships to bring them intimacy, social status, and sexual pleasure -- and they have a strong expectation these goals will be fulfilled if they have sex, according to a report in the June 2006 issue of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.



  • Nearly half (46%) of all 15–19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once.


  • By age 15, only 13% of never-married teens have ever had sex. However, by the time they reach age 19, seven in 10 never-married teens have engaged in sexual intercourse.


  • Most young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, but they do not marry until their middle or late 20s. This means that young adults are at risk of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for nearly a decade.



  • What are we not doing to help our teens wait to have sex? As adults, are we contributing to the pressure that urges our teens to have sex earlier?