- Apr 18, 2014
- 1,182
- 4,199
Exactly.This reminds me of parents who never give their kids the sex talk for fear that they'll be 'telling their kids what to do' (WTF?). And so the kids go and collect misinformation from their friends about sex, sexual health and pregnancy. These are the kids who can't name more than 5 STDs, how to prevent them, can't list certain types of contraceptives and think that pregnancy can be prevented using ridiculous and highly ineffective methods. Compare those kids to the ones whose parents actually sit them down and explain everything to them. And most importantly, they set boundaries but let their child know that they can come to them for anything (help, advice, etc.). Those are the parents who can intervene when, for example, a friend gets pregnant (think Spike and Manny on Degrassi), or in the case of drinking, the child who messes up and gets drunk at a party and knows that they can call their parent to drive them home instead of trying to wing it and drive themselves, which often has tragic consequences.
Trust is the most important thing in our family. My parents were always open with me about drinking, about sex ed, about their own pasts and what they did as teenagers, and in return, I was always honest with them. If I could prove myself to be a good, trustworthy kid, then they allowed me the appropriate amount of freedom. I got the sex talk, because they believed it was preferable for me to have sex safely, than to try and be abstinent but slip up and not be protected.
My mom would have been more disappointed in me if I told her I went to a friend's house but actually went to a party and had one drink, than if I told her I was going to a party but got a bit carried away with the booze. Because at least in the latter example I was being honest.