The Sex Talk...

...And Why Raising A Daughter In This Day and Age Scares The Hell Out Of Me.

Things like this scare the hell out of me. At 13, and even, dare I say 15, sex wasn't even on my radar (well, it may have been a bit more on the radar at 15 than 13 but was still something I would never have considered even doing, had the opportunity even presented itself). It's not like it was as unheard of back in my day as it would have been back in say my parents day, but the frequency of these types of stories seemed a lot farther and fewer between. It seems like every day we are hearing more and more sexually inappropriate stories and of children becoming adults way before their time (the recent story of a 13 year old boy texting a nude photograph of his naked teenage girlfriend comes to mind). I guess my big question is what has happened? Where has the responsibility and moral goodness gone?

Please don't misunderstand. I am not one that thinks sex should wait for marriage. I believe that it is something that should be reserved for a committed relationship, and not something that should be done, at least as a teenager, just for the heck of it. To me, it seems like in this time, that sex has lost some of it's "specialness" because it appears to be entered in to in many cases without a care, or perhaps, consideration for what it really could mean.

The part that scares me to death is the part that involves my three daughters going out in to a world where there are 13 year old boys and 15 year old girls (and in some cases younger) having sex. Where there are girls that are allowing their boyfriends to take nude photographs of them. Where there are boys sending said photographs out to the world. Then, there is also the part where I constantly second guess if I am doing a good job. Where I frequently wonder if, as the girls get older, my influence will be enough to help them make positive decisions about sex, and about major life choices in general.

No one ever said this parenting thing was easy. They weren't kidding.