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| Help Your Children to Avoid Pregnancy | He has been conducted a number of researches about the influence of parents on their children’s sexual behaviour, as well as there have been a lot of talks with experts in this field, as well as with parents of teenagers themselves. And from all these sources, it became clear that there is a lot of things adults and parents can do in order to reduce the risk of teen pregnancy significantly.
Most of these ideas seem to be quite familiar and trivial, simply because they articulate what parents already are aware of from their own experience, like the importance to maintain strong and close relationships with their children, setting clear expectations for them, as well as conducting honest and constant communications with their children about the most important things. All conducted researches support these common sense ideas. The tips, which are provided below, can possibly increase the ability of parents to help their teenage children pass safely and pregnancy - free into their adult life.
So, what every parent should do:
1. Be clear an honest about your own sexual values and attitudes.
As a rule the communication with your children about love and sexual relationships is of much more success, when parents are clear in their own mind about these issues. In order to clear up your own sexual attitudes and values, you should consider the questions, mentioned below:
How do you really treat school – aged teenagers, who are sexually active, who perhaps may even become young parents? Do you consider sexual abstinence to be the only way out for teens?
Whom do you consider to be responsible for setting limits in sexual relationships and how do you think, is that done in reality?
What about yourself? Did you have sexual relationships, when you were a teenager? How do you feel about that now, when, you are an adult person, and when you have your own teen child?
What do you think about teens, using different methods of contraception?
2. Talk to your children early and often about sex, and do not forget to be specific.
You should keep in mind, that as a rule young people have a lot of questions about friendship, love, as well as about sexual relationships. Moreover, most of them consider the best source they would most like to go for answers on all these questions of them is their parents. You should start the conversation, be sure it is honest, open as well as respectful. In case if you feel you can not start, then you should take into considerations using some situations, which are often shown on TV or in the movies as possible starters of the conversation. You are to talk with your teen child in a candid and confidential way about what you think and why you believe what you do. In case if you feel that you are not sure about some definite issues, you should also tell your child about it as well. Make sure that you are having two – way conversation, and not a one – way lecture. Do not forget to ask your child what he or she thinks and what he or she knows. This will help you to correct some possible misconception. Be sure to ask what, if there is anything, makes him or her worried.
You should keep in mind that age – appropriate conversations about sexual relationships and intimacy are to begin early in a life of a child, and they are to continue through his or her adolescence. The very idea that there should be only one conversation “the talk” about all this is the greatest misconception, which is to be resisted right away. The reality is that parents are to be talking to their children about sex and love all along. This is to be applied to sons as well as to daughters, and to mothers as well as to fathers. Do not forget that every teenager needs large amounts of communication, guidance, information about all these sexual issues, even if you think that your child does not seem to be interested in what you are going to talk about. Therefore, in case if you have regular conversations, you will not have to be worried so much about making some mistake, simply because you will always be able to start your talk again without thinking about how to do it.
Nowadays there exists a large amount of quite inexpensive books and videos, which can help you with any detailed information you may need. However, you should never let your lack of technical information make you shy. Remember, that children need just as much help in realizing and understanding the meaning of sex, as they do in realizing how all their body parts work. Explain them what love and sex mean, and what is the difference between these two terms. Do not omit talking about reasons that children find sex interesting and enticing, as in the result of a mere discussion of the “downside” of unplanned pregnancy and diseases, misses many of the issues on teenagers’ minds.
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