Right before our eyes, our gorgeous little girls grow up into teenagers. With this transition comes a whole new set of worries such as drugs, alcohol and sex and how on earth do I keep my girls safe and thriving. Inevitably they now need to learn the value of a condom, eek!
Both of my girls have big goals and dreams and quite simply a teen pregnancy would bring all of that too a grinding halt. Miss WW Jnr has just turned 16 and one of the girls in her year is going to be having a baby in about 2 weeks. What the …….
Relying on sex education at school will simply not cut it in the real world.
It is absolutely vital that young women learn to take 100% responsibility for their own health and wellbeing and arming them with truth and knowledge so that they can make the right choices is the best we as parents can do, other than locking them away until they are 25!
This post is in collaboration with Durex, as a condom is one of the vital keys in empowering the young women of tomorrow.
HOW TO BE THE BEST TEACHER ON THE BLOCK
TALK ABOUT IT – You need to become your girls encyclopedia of life. This is no time to let Google do the work for you. No subject is off limits in this house. When your daughter comes to you with a word, phrase or action that they don’t understand, tell them the truth. My stomach has been tied in knots on numerous occasions over discussions that popped up, but never once have I lied to them or fobbed them off. They need to know they can come to you with anything.
LISTEN WHEN THEY SHARE – Over sharing happens a lot in this house. I am privy to more information about my girls friends and their behavior than I probably should be, and what some of these girls are getting up to is scary. It would be so easy for me to say ‘I don’t want to know’ or ‘it better not happen to you’. Instead I take these opportunities to highlight the possible negative outcomes of such behavior in a conversational way rather than a lecture.
SET REALISTIC BOUNDARIES – My girls have always loved spending time with their friends, and as they grew older wanted to be able to enjoy time without 100% parent supervision. We started off small with an hour alone at a shopping centre and it grew from there. They had to take responsibility for doing the right thing, knowing there would be harsh penalties if they crossed the line. Not once have they done that, and they both now have enough common sense to not want to go to parties or events that are going to be alcohol fuelled disasters.
EXPLAIN THEIR CHOICES BEFORE THEY NEED THEM – Contraception is readily available and effective if used correctly. Girls need to know what the options are and that relying on a boy to do the right thing is the worst thing they can do. There is no way my girls are going to miss out on the opportunity to travel and follow rewarding career paths because they did not know how to protect themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.
Never miss an opportunity to tell them you love them, support them and only want the best for them.
Kids these days can be put under a lot of pressure to conform and be part of the ‘in’ crowd. We have to help build their self esteem enough that they can have the courage to say NO to doing things that they will probably regret at a later stage.
We can’t hold their hand 24 hours a day, but we can provide truthful facts that will help guide them to hopefully making good life choices.
Do you find it hard to talk openly with your daughter and are you prepared to buy her a condom to help keep her safe?
Great post thanks. With 2 girls I do worry about this. My oldest starts high school in January – will be revisiting this regularly. Open communication is key I think xx
It is so hard, but so worth it. xx