And ye gods, THIS: Some parents are so misinformed on things or skewed in their own minds about the actual information.
Yes, parents have more authority/responsibility than their children, typically. And often they have enough sense/wisdom/knowledge that it makes sense. But man, being an authority figure does not necessarily give anyone actual decision-making skills.
The whole system of setting up permissions/responsibility by age has always been an imperfect system at best, and anyone who thinks "all X year olds can do Y without issues, whereas all Z year olds would have issues with it" is not in touch with reality, IMO.
But yeah, separating out, "sure, you can consent to sex." from "oh, you want to have sex *safely*?" is absolutely short sighted and poorly planned.
Personally, I don't think parents have the right or need to know if their teenager is on birth control. What they do have the right/need to know is if they *aren't* and are sexually active.
The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy amongst the 24 or so industrialized nations. Clearly we're doing something wrong, and it's time to reevaluate how we teach kids about sex, and who teaches it to them.
I'm with you. Parents do not have a right to know. Sure, it's best for everyone, and healthy and all that, I guess, if they do talk to their kids about sex and, well, everything else. But that doesn't actually become a right, I think
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I didn't think anyone actually read my posts anymore.
I don't have kids either, but I know I'd like to know so that I could have that conversation with them.
Granted I'm also against the entire public school system (inefficient and lower grades than private/home schooled), so I guess my views aren't in the norm.
I've only fairly recently returned to LJ myself, and you're still on my friends page, so you still get read. :) Our world views seem to have shifted considerably apart recently, but not in a way that compels me to stop reading or think less of you or anything like that.
I don't have kids either, but I know I'd like to know so that I could have that conversation with them. Agreed. In an ideal world teenagers wouldn't be legally obligated to get permission to buy birth control because they'd be talking about it with their folks anyway. But I think what you and I may hold as ideals of communication between parents and children is not actually the reality in far too many cases. As such--cynical though it may be--I think making it illegal for teenagers to obtain birth control without parental permission would cause more problems than it would solve.
I'm also against the entire public school system (inefficient and lower grades than private/home schooled)I'd be curious to see stats on that. I have mixed feelings about home
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Our world views seem to have shifted considerably apart recently, but not in a way that compels me to stop reading or think less of you or anything like that.
They have. (:
As such--cynical though it may be--I think making it illegal for teenagers to obtain birth control without parental permission would cause more problems than it would solve.Perhaps, but things are getting pretty bad now. A former acquaintance of mine recently helped a 13 yr old (my acquaintance is her legal guardian) get an abortion, so I'm not sure just how much worse it can get. I'd rather have girls taking the pill than getting abortions
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My litmus test for finding a pedi in the US (it's a useless q in Singapore) was "What would you do if Elanor came to you and asked for birth control when I'd explicitly said no." The correct answer, for the record was "write the prescription anyway and try to get her to talk to you about it
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Comments 7
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And ye gods, THIS: Some parents are so misinformed on things or skewed in their own minds about the actual information.
Yes, parents have more authority/responsibility than their children, typically. And often they have enough sense/wisdom/knowledge that it makes sense. But man, being an authority figure does not necessarily give anyone actual decision-making skills.
The whole system of setting up permissions/responsibility by age has always been an imperfect system at best, and anyone who thinks "all X year olds can do Y without issues, whereas all Z year olds would have issues with it" is not in touch with reality, IMO.
But yeah, separating out, "sure, you can consent to sex." from "oh, you want to have sex *safely*?" is absolutely short sighted and poorly planned.
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The United States has the highest rate of teen pregnancy amongst the 24 or so industrialized nations. Clearly we're doing something wrong, and it's time to reevaluate how we teach kids about sex, and who teaches it to them.
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I don't have kids either, but I know I'd like to know so that I could have that conversation with them.
Granted I'm also against the entire public school system (inefficient and lower grades than private/home schooled), so I guess my views aren't in the norm.
Reply
I don't have kids either, but I know I'd like to know so that I could have that conversation with them.
Agreed. In an ideal world teenagers wouldn't be legally obligated to get permission to buy birth control because they'd be talking about it with their folks anyway. But I think what you and I may hold as ideals of communication between parents and children is not actually the reality in far too many cases. As such--cynical though it may be--I think making it illegal for teenagers to obtain birth control without parental permission would cause more problems than it would solve.
I'm also against the entire public school system (inefficient and lower grades than private/home schooled)I'd be curious to see stats on that. I have mixed feelings about home ( ... )
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They have. (:
As such--cynical though it may be--I think making it illegal for teenagers to obtain birth control without parental permission would cause more problems than it would solve.Perhaps, but things are getting pretty bad now. A former acquaintance of mine recently helped a 13 yr old (my acquaintance is her legal guardian) get an abortion, so I'm not sure just how much worse it can get. I'd rather have girls taking the pill than getting abortions ( ... )
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