by Michele Hart

Created on: March 01, 2008

Condoms seem to be a bit issue lately. I remember when I was 11, going to a drugstore with some girl friends, stealing a pack of condoms, and going to our treehouse and giggling over them. Some of us were afraid to touch them, afraid to get caught playing with these forbidden tubes of rubber - knowing that they were 'naughty' and 'dirty', but not really understanding what they were for. Feeling that weird, almost exciting feeling, being on the edge of something adult, peeking into a world in which we weren't sure of our place.

I'll be the first to admit that I knew what my bits were for pretty early. Ken and Barbie didn't have the bits, but I could still pretend they were 'doing it' - when my parents weren't around.

Sex was a mysterious, exciting, adult activity that I didn't know the exact workings of, but I had explored myself and gotten some pretty awesome reactions. And everyone said it was better with a partner. Wow! I wanted that bad, and I was only 13.

Back to the condoms, though. Given that my first experiences have all been rather tame, and happened all of ten plus years ago, and also given that I recently found out that a 15 year old cousin of mine is pregnant, I am very adamant that condoms should be freely given to any teenager who has the possibility of becoming sexually active.

I am also adamant that, before the condoms, we should be distributing education. I know that no parent is going to be comfortable about this, but we, as caregivers and role models, need to educate our children well before they start having these thoughts for themselves. Schools don't have the only responsibility to our children - in fact, the schools should be only an extension of the parenting unit. I can't teach my child advanced math or chemistry, but I can teach her that if she decides to have sex, there are consequences, and there are ways to prevent some of them.

And educate your sons too. It's not just us girls that suffer consequences from sex. Boys can get diseases or end up in jail for getting their underage partner pregnant. Some are forced into early marriages by irate parents. And, scary as this is - when you're a teenager in trouble, a lot of times the first thought you have is to end it all. Girls and boys.

So please, PLEASE educate your children - THEN distribute the condoms. And don't just distribute them - teach how they are used. A condom on the bits is worth two in the trash.

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