Condoms For Children - Page 2

West Ender · 17-07-2007, 18:40

Are you happy that we live in a world where little girls are becoming pregnant by little boys? Well I'm sorry but a 13 year old is still a child. Yes, they think they are very adult and responsible and, yes, they are much more knowing than previous generations but 13 is far too young to obliquely condone sexual activity.

Having to hand out condoms to children is an indictment of the sorry state of our social and moral climate. It's time to get back to some of those "old fashioned values" we got rammed down our throats some years ago. I would never advocate the prudish hypocricy of the early 20th century but things have gone far too much the other way. Children are actively encouraged to grow up too fast and are given far too much freedom. We treat them like adults when they are neither physically nor emotionally capable of being so.

The parent who polices what their child watches on TV, refuses to allow it to dress and behave much older than its years, keeps it on a tight rein and intills in it respect for others and for itself is, in my opinion, a good parent. If only we could persuade Society at large to be as responsible.

Margaret Pilkington · 17-07-2007, 19:02

So far all our aims to try to reduce Teen pregnancies and Sexually transmitted infections has been appalling. You can give out condoms, but who is to say that they will use them for the purpose they were intended.
And Yes, I know that by not giving contraceptives we are asking for trouble....but also by giving condoms it is almost giving permission for what is actually illegal. So I guess it is a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Children(that includes 13 year olds)need to realise that all actions have consequences.......we should stop sexualising 5 year old girls....T shirts that read 'so many boys....so little time' are clearly not appropriate for a five year old.....neither is a bare midriff with low slung pants or skirt...... we are turning children who are little more than babies into tramps/bratz.......then we wonder why we have problems with paedophiles finding these young children sexually attractive.........(and no, I'm not saying the children are to blame - but someone is, and it doesn't take a genius to work it out)..........but don't mind me these are only the narrow views of an old fogey!

WillowTheWhisp · 17-07-2007, 19:22

Glad to see there are a few of us old fogies about. I was beginning to feel quite lonely at first.

I remember a schoolfriend of my daughter having a t-shirt which bore the slogan "If you think this t-shirt looks good on me, I think it would look better on your bedroom floor." She was about 12 or 13. She is now 16 and a single parent.

Stanaccy · 17-07-2007, 20:31

Surely an Ideal way would be both, education about the consequences of the actions but also provisions of condoms.

Regardless of the education, the message, some people will be having sex at school age, it happened when all of us were at school and it will happen in the future.

Cutting down on the numbers of sexually active schoolkids is not going to be easy but education about the consequences, STDs and the affects of these may help, provision of and encouragement to use condoms will hopefully cut down on unwanted pregnancies, abortions, and STDs.

Yes educate but lets not be blind to what also is happening

davo69 · 17-07-2007, 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I suppose my girls must be a rarity then because they do not intend to have sexual intercourse until they are married. I think it would be a preferable idea to teach 13 year olds how to say no to sex just as they are hopefully taught to say no to drugs. Neither of them have ever been offered a condom at a youth club or at school, although at school they have been informed where they can go to obtain them if they wanted them.

what they intend to do and end up doing are two different things !

Margaret Pilkington · 17-07-2007, 20:40

Stanaccy, I would not advocate blindness, but I think it is a really tough road back to some kind of moral obligation and responsibility, especially when a court sees fit to throw out the case of a young girl who wished to declare her abstinence from sexual relations by the wearing of a ring.
We have to do what my parents did.......educate children to feel a high level of self esteem, be proud to be unique, and not to embark on something that you know doesn't feel right.....for the only reason that your peers SAY they are sexually active. Yes, I knew girls who were at school at the same time that I was and they were supposed to be having sex with every Tom Dick or Harry....because Tom dick and Harry were quite proud to smear these girls reputations.....I'm not so sure they were all up to what was said about them.
No-one got pregnant during my four years at secondary school - but then that was a long time ago and we read Bunty and Jackie....not the stuff that is produced for teenagers today.....'How to Make a guy Fancy You' proclaims one of these mags.....do we really want our young girls to be reading this stuff...it is corrosive.

Ianto.W. · 17-07-2007, 20:48

You can give all the free condoms there are going, but just like the horse taken to water you can not make it drink.

Gayle · 17-07-2007, 20:49

Teenage pregnancies actually started to increase around the same time as sex education for younger people - which was the chicken and which the egg I wonder?

Margaret Pilkington · 17-07-2007, 20:56

I think that the motive was good but the execution of sex education may not be all that good. Personally, I think the nuts and bolts of sex education should be left in the hands of parents. Everyone knows their own children best, and though most parents embark upon this task with trepidation, I think the very fact that you KNOW your child allows you to couch the information in terms that you know they will accept......and I think it also allows the parent the opportunity to teach some moral boundaries too.
In the end we cannot live our childrens lives, and most of us want better lives for our children than we had ourselves....we can tell our children the mistakes we made....but that will not stop them making mistakes of their own.
Children need to know that they are loved...if that feeling is missing at home then they may embark upon sexual activity as a poor substitute.

Margaret Pilkington · 17-07-2007, 20:58

OK....so now I am a confirmed old fogey!

WillowTheWhisp · 17-07-2007, 21:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

Teenage pregnancies actually started to increase around the same time as sex education for younger people - which was the chicken and which the egg I wonder?

That's a very good question and I can't help thinking that you may be thinking what I'm thinking.

davo69 · 17-07-2007, 21:06

younger kids are having kids but they are learning there lessons they are having smaller families now than 50 years ago when most families had six kids or more and then they never seemed to learn that money was tighter and they couldnt afford big families

Margaret Pilkington · 17-07-2007, 21:06

How skewed is society when a school nurse can dole out the morning after pill without a parent knowing, but cannot give paracetamol for a headache.
Haven't we got our values a bit mixed up?

lindsay ormerod · 17-07-2007, 21:08

My daughter has just had sex education class in her last year at primary school. She is mature for her age and I am grateful for the school's help here. I HAVE NOT dressed my daughter provocatively and she isn't a particularly forward type of girl, several of her peer group are, and that pressure inevitably filters down. I think that anything that helps combat the growing rise of teenage mothers and the " council house/ baby" culture should be embraced; be it education or practical (ie the free condoms).

Margaret Pilkington · 17-07-2007, 21:08

50 years ago there wasn't the same availability of contraception, or the variety of contraception. That may have had something to do with why families had so many children.......abortion was not available either unless you were rich.