Happy National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy! And we can really say “Happy” because there’s a lot to cheer about. The U.S. teen pregnancy rate has declined 42% from its peak in 1990 and is now at a nearly 40-year low. That’s terrific, BUT (there it is…) we still have a lot of work to do!

Today, almost 3 in 10 girls get pregnant by age 20. And compared with other developed countries in the world, the U.S. continues to have the highest teen pregnancy and birth rates.

Most parents believe that they have little influence over their teen children when it comes to sexual activity. Research proves that wrong. Parents’ opinions and expectations matter – but they can only make a difference if they are voiced to your children. Results from a recent telephone survey of 1,002 teens ages 12-19 by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy showed that teens believe parents have the most influence on their decisions about sex. In fact, 87% of those teens said it would be easier to postpone sex and avoid the risk of pregnancy if they could have more open and honest conversations about sex and sexuality with their parents!

So use this National Day to make a statement – to your children, to your colleagues, to your friends. Start those important conversations about the risks of early sexual activity, and the prevention of unwanted consequences.

If you have teens, encourage them to visit StayTeen.org to participate in several online activities. They’ll be joining about a million other teens who will take the National Day Quiz that will put them in six risky situations and challenge them to think about what they would do “in the moment.” The message of the National Day is fun, educational and straightforward: sex has consequences.

Learn more about the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy here
http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/national/default.aspx

then send your kids here:
http://www.stayteen.org/quiz

Don’t forget to bookmark these great resources!!

When we stop to consider what matters most in life, many of us lose sight of the fundamental privileges we receive every day—freedom, safety, homes, family and friends, and health. Although we also possess many material blessings, we still tend to focus on wanting MORE. But how much MORE do we really NEED? Our society is painfully obsessed with celebrities, unattainable beauty, perfection, and wealth. Don’t we owe it to girls to exercise Girl Power and concentrate on the values that truly cultivate self-esteem and pride? Consider the following questions and imagine the gratitude you can experience if you celebrate all that you are…

If you have a teen approaching adulthood, you might think the Girlology blog is too youth oriented, and that ship has sailed. Well, pull her back into port, because post-sixteen is not too late for meaningful conversation.  In fact, we want to stress to parents, educators, coaches and any adults that care about young people that it’s never too late to talk. In fact, talking with your near-adult or young-adult children is even more important because relationships take on new depth, and sexuality becomes a more significant part of relationships.

First, take a deep breath. We realize that talking about your daughter’s growing sexual desire is not easy, but we commend you for even considering it.

By age 13 or 14, girls may seek touch from females and males in their peer group. By 14 or 15, many girls find older boys more mature than the boys in their peer group, and look to the older ones for attention and relationships. Sexual experimentation is very common in the early to mid teen years. Most early experimentation involves kissing and intimate touching, but teens today move quickly, and 25% have had oral sex or sexual intercourse by age 15. It is frighteningly easy for teen girls to give and receive touch that may not be healthy or fulfilling, particularly if there is a touch hungry boy in her life.

So, whether or not your daughter has a boyfriend by adolescence, it’s time to help her set personal boundaries and limits on intimate touch. You can help your daughter understand that sexual activity is not a healthy way to nourish her touch hunger and that even sexual desire is not fulfilled in a satisfying way unless there is a relationship that builds emotional intimacy before physical intimacy.

Starting with the day your baby was born, gentle contact and instinctive gestures fulfilled the need for physical affection. But have you ever wondered what becomes of that "touch hunger" when your daughter turns 11 or 15 or 18? Certainly, the need to be touched doesn’t dissipate with age—in fact, it only increases. So who or what replaces that urge as time moves forward, situations change, and different opportunities to satisfy touch hunger come her way? Throughout this series of articles, we’ll explore touch hunger, offering insights and solutions to a tricky topic that every parent and teen encounters.

Let’s start from the middle, with that 15-year old and the heart stopping “whoa” that jerks to the surface the first time you see your daughter lean comfortably into a boy, his arms looped around her waist while her hands wrap tightly around his. As uncomfortable as it is for you, it’s couldn’t be more natural for them. For most parents, that scene leads to automatic shift into protective mode, brainstorming for ways to stop it. But before you ship her off to boarding school or ban the boy from your front porch, remember that it’s also only natural for your daughter to be hungry for affectionate touch.

Dr. Hutchison is a guests blogger with the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy.  Check out her first entry…Sex and the media.  Is the media the new text book for teens on sex, love and relationships??

http://www.teenpregnancysc.org/Parents/index.php?sid=192

It is so much fun to hear from girls that read our books and have their own advice for our community of girls and parents! The coolest thing is knowing that these comments are coming from all over the world where our book is published in English, Korean, Russian and Indonesian.  Here are some recent comments.  Please send us yours!

“Hey Guys,

I just finished the book girlology: a girl’s guide to stuff that matters and it helped me alot because I have a crush on a kid and it gave me advice on stuff  to do!! It also gave me ideas on what to do for  my plan from now on!! So I wanted to tell you thanks!! I am going to 10th grade in about 5 days and I am going to start reading the book Hang-ups, Hook-ups, and Holding out next!!”

Another comment from a girl reader…

Being a girl can be really tough , parents want u to do well .. there’s guy pressure .. does he like me ? … and all the other stuff which we all experience in our lives …. the book girlology is amazing ….. it’ almost like a parent guiding throgh all this mess …. it’s definately worth a read girls !!!!! 

and another….

hey .. all the girls of the world . we all know the actual feeling of being a teenager , but all parents think that it’s a a really difficult time in our lives …. it may not be that true . we just need to take it out of our minds and think positive …. all the mental and mostly physical changes that are happening are only for the good .if u feel scared …. there’s always something or someone standing by ur side and this time it’s the book girlology  … all is well girls !!!.

Does your girl get enough sleep??  In the Journal Sleep, an article by James Ganwisch, MD indicates that adolescents that have “bedtimes” of  midnight or later were 24% more likely to suffer from depression and 20% more likely to have suicidal thoughts compared with adolescents with bedtimes of 10pm or earlier.  This study included about 16,000 adolescents in grades 7 to 12.  The researchers also found a link between short sleep duration and depression.

This month the CDC released the 2007 data on US births.  Teen pregnancy rate went up 1% in 2007 but has increased 5% since 2005.  The good news is that preliminary data for 2008 may show a decline in teen childbearing, YEAH!  If you live in South Carolina like we do,   Our state ranked 13th nationally for teen births.  Top five states include Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.