As a teen, my mother has done everything she can to prevent me from becoming pregnant. She knows that I am an adult and that I can make my own decisions, and she respects me. She just wants to provide me with the protection and guidance that I need to keep myself baby-free until marriage. So here are the top 10 things that my mother did for me, and so far she has been successful, and in the parts where she wasn't, I'll input my own experience.

10. You can't keep a teenager from having sex if they want to have sex, so provide them with the knowledge and consequences that come with sex.

- my mother stressed the importance of my college education, and that if I had a baby, that would no longer be possible, because of missed classes, bad grades, and no scholarships. Babies take time, and a student doesn't have that sort of time.

9. Stress the effect pregnancy will have during the nine months of carrying the child.
- self-esteem problems. Your friends will look at you different, and you are pretty much going to be without a boyfriend or girlfriend for a long time, because they will think bad of you. Also, stress the disappointment that you will have in them. Most of the time, that is more severe than yelling.

8. Give them the opportunity to talk to you about any sort of sexual desires or experience. Most likely, they won't talk about it, but the thought of having to say something about it will discourage them.

7. When children are young, even if you are not religious, find some sort of literary work: the Bible or personal experience novel, that stresses the sin in having sex before marriage. The just might remember.

6. Don't say they can't do it. Teenagers are rebellious, and sometimes they'll have sex just to spite their parents.

5. Don't limit their exposure to it. Again, the more that they know about it, the more they will understand. And they will be less likely to "experiment" because they already know. This includes films (not porn), books, and classes... etc. Let them be open about what they think about these things (#8)

4. Make sure that they take Sex Ed classes or participate in the Abstinence-by-Choice programs that they offer in most public schools. They need to visually understand the consequences of sex. Not having sex is the number one way NOT to get pregnant (but you can't stop them if they don't listen.)

3. Provide them with protection. Whether it is condoms, birth control, or whatever. Give them some sort of physical protection

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