Originally Posted by analog

That's great- but you're a parent, and the rest of us live in reality. Sorry, but I don't care for your "kids will obey every command I give them, including not to have sex" argument. A lot of kids, no matter how you raise them, are going to have sex. When more parents realize that, better decisions will be made to safeguard kids. Yours is the same argument against teaching kids about condoms, because doing so will apparently make them promiscuous. Nonsense. Proper education (along with good parenting) has always, and will always, be the #1 method of prevention of pregnancy and spread of disease- not telling them "oh just don't do it". I live in reality, and I have to help solve problems in reality, not in a fantasy land where teens don't have sex just because you ask them not to.

I say to everyone who makes such an argument: Welcome to reality, 2006... People have been having premarital sex for quite a while now, and you're not going to put an end to it. You're just not. Teaching abstinence only does not work. Period. It's been tried for decades, and it has NEVER stuck. Many of them are going to have sex whether you like it or not, and you need to be the responsible parent and teach them how to protect themselves. Telling them that protecting themselves is through "just not doing it" will not work, and that is not "teaching" them anything. Knowledge is power. Give them that power.


Teaching abstinence only is setting yourself up for failure. They need to be taught of the consequences of their actions, how to protect themselves. These days, here in reality, preaching abstinence only is an archaic gesture. I would also mention that preaching abstinence only has lead to a trend of teens engaging in anal sex, in order to preserve virginity, because it "doesn't count". That's what you get when you substitute EDUCATION for your own misguided desires to tell them to simply not do it.

Education, people. Education.