Digressing a Bit
There’s an article up at another 451Press blog, Parenting Your Children. Apparently Portland, Maine, has decided that it’s quite alright to hand out birth control (NOT condoms, birth control pills) to girls without informing their parents. Oh, and let’s get this straight: it’s not a high school, it’s a MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!
Okay - this is bad ALL THE WAY AROUND!
First of all, look at this through a doctor’s eyes (say, House). How can you effectively diagnose someone if you don’t know that they’re on a medication?! If they don’t tell their parent, they probably will be reluctant to tell their doctor as well. Secondly, some people have reactions to birth control pills. I have one friend who had to get off of them because they were causing her to have high blood pressure and high sugar.
This school is encouraging children to NOT talk to their parents! It’s absolutely ridiculous! I have a 3 year old daughter, and I am going to do my damnest to make sure that she feels comfortable talking to me, but if I think something is going on, I am definitely going to snoop, no two ways about it. Let me be clear: I am not going to go into my daughter’s room and search it if there is nothing going on. However, if she’s acting different and not opening up, I am definitely going to snoop so that I can know what is going on in her life. “Everybody lies” - especially teenagers. I swear it’s in their genetic make-up to lie to their parents at one point or another - consider it a path to becoming an adult.
So me? I’d be thoroughly pissed that the school board passed this and would be making a huge stink about it. How do you feel?
October 20th, 2007 at 8:30 am
We had a debate about this in my class (in which there is a girl who is 18 and has had a baby already). Kids are going to do it anyway, with or without condoms. Wouldn’t you rather they did it with them? They girl who has a one year old son said she wishes that she had. She goes to school from 7-4, works from 8pm-2am, and gets home at three. then has to wake up at six. She makes 250$ every 15 days, and her electricity is $300. Sure, she made mistakes, but she’s trying as hard as she can with a boyfriend that doesn’t work. She’s 100% for condoms. With the birth control, you have to get parental consent. So the parents would know.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:11 am
I also discussed this in class with a lot of young women who are currently taking prescribed birth control - including myself. I can see your side of this debate, and I understand why a parent would be so apalled by this, but you cannot rightfully claim that this is an all-around bad idea as you did in your above statement. Unless you have lived in Portland, Maine; you would not be able to fully understand it. If a teen is going to get pregnant and forever change her life, wouldn’t you rather it be one in high school - who has a slightly better understanding of the world - than a child in middle school? To tell you the truth, I was very shocked that it was a middle school that was having problems with unsafe sex, or sex at all for that matter. But if they’re going to do it, then they should have some sort of protection. You, as a parent, should understand that. I can’t see why you would blame the school for this, and be more upset at the board. Shouldn’t you be worried about these children and the way they must have been raised to believe that they can handle engaging in sexual intercourse at such a young age? The school does what it has to in order to maintain a relatively safe environment, and if birth control is the only way to protect these kids, then its the right decision. Extreme problems need extreme solutions.