Let’s Talk About Teenage Sex

As a health professional, I have seen many young people in challenging predicaments related to sex, sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy. My requirement as a physician was to treat them as an “emancipated minor,” to keep their confidentiality and not tell their parents anything. Yet, when these same teens came in my office for any other care, (an eye exam, for example), I was not to treat them without expressed consent of their parent. How is this right or healthy for our youth?

When teens present their doctor with concerning drug, alcohol or sexual abuse, these laws prohibit their doctor from seeking parental support without permission from the young patient. I recently discussed the taboo and shunned topic of sex on my Blog Talk Radio show, and I have to tell all parents – open communication is the key to your children’s healthy sexual lives. If your young adult is dealing with repercussions of medical problems due to sex, then your communication with them and support can often be critical for their emotional healing and restoration.

What I really wish is that parents would just stop burying their heads and talk to their kids about life. Although graduating from high school is all about grades and SAT scores, I would wish that graduating youth would learn how to handle difficult situations that life will present: how to make choices, how to say ‘No” and feel good about yourself, or how to say ‘Yes” to the right people and relationships.

The fear of parents, though, is that their child will be just like their were at a certain age: having sex (likely unprotected), experimenting with drugs and alcohol, and just being wild and crazy as may of us do. Let’s face the fact that our kids are human and that they will do many of these things. What keeps them safe and thinking, however, are parents that prepared them for those situations, and who forgive them for any judgment errors.

Recently published New York Times article, “Guarding Privacy May Not Always Protect Patients,” addresses the predicament that doctors face regarding their limited ability to seek parental support for children suffering from sexually transmitted disease, because of privacy laws. Parents! If you know everything about proper parenting, then start acting like it and talk to your kid. Open the lines of communication. Perhaps then, physicians wouldn’t see so many impending disasters in their offices that require taking professional risk in order to seek parental support and help.

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/health/views/12klass.html

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wellnessfortherealworld/2011/05/11/raising-kids-to-have-healthy-sex