Sue Scheff: Straight Talk - Teens and Sex - The Real Truth

With today's ever expanding Internet and television shows such as 16 and Pregnant, the vast amount of materials that are available to teens today about sex education is tremendous.  There are no excuses for teen pregnancies.  The availability of contraceptives as well as the many resources that are open to teens should help prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Sadly, there are some teens that see having a baby as a tool to keeping a boyfriend or even a way to have someone love them unconditionally. 

Without thinking of the consequences, teenagers are not always mature enough to see the full picture of parenthood.  It is not playing house, and it is not a baby doll; Having a baby is a full time job and a massive responsibility.  Some adults have a hard time dealing with being a parent, a teen is hardly ready for this major step in life.

Straight Talk, Teens and Sex of Jacksonville is an organization that is designed to reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy and the spread of AIDS and other sexuality transmitted infections (STI's).
The facts about youth and sexual activity:

• Most very young teens have not had intercourse: 8 in 10 girls and 7 in 10 boys are virgins at age 15.
• While 93% of teenage women report that their first intercourse was voluntary, one-quarter of these young women report that it was unwanted.
• The younger women are when they first have intercourse, the more likely they are to have had unwanted or nonvoluntary first sex—7 in 10 of those who had sex before age 13, for example.
• The majority (61%) of young women's first voluntary sexual partners are younger, the same age or no more than 2 years older; 27% are 3–4 years older and 12% are 5 or more years older.

Reference: Straight Talk

As summer is fast approaching, teens will be attending parties, sleep-overs, and just hanging out.  Be sure they are educated on sex, relationships and contraceptives.

Be an educated parent, you will have safer and healthier teens.


Related articles:

Teen Sex
Talking Teen Sex
Teen Moms
Teen Pregnancy
Sex in the City 2

Sue Scheff: Text Message That is Making Schools a Safer Place - "I love u guys"

I Love You Guys Foundation
On September 27th, 2006 a gunman entered Platte Canyon High School, held seven girls hostage and ultimately shot and killed Emily Keyes. During the time she was held hostage, Emily sent her parents text messages... "I love you guys" and "I love u guys. k?" Emily's kindness, spirit, fierce joy, and the dignity and grace that followed this tragic event define the core of The "I Love U Guys" Foundation.

About:

We're pragmatic. Our initiative, The National Student Safety Collaborative (NS2C), started as a separate arm of the foundation under which to conduct some information gathering and research. The question was simple. "Can we really help?"

From the inception of the foundation the Keyes Family explored the arena of school safety. They attended symposiums, conferences and events about school safety. Tons of research. The foundation hosted roundtables of it's own. And the foundation contracted an Emergency Management Practioner to jumpstart the learning curve and make introductions. (Perhaps, the best research investment we made.)

Read more at http://www.iloveyouguys.org/  and a recent article about this story.

Sue Scheff: Text4Baby - Teen Moms Find Help Through Texts

Text4baby is a free mobile information service designed to promote maternal and child health. An educational program of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB), text4baby provides pregnant women and new moms with information they need to take care of their health and give their babies the best possible start in life. Women who sign up for the service by texting BABY (or BEBE for Spanish) to 511411 will receive free SMS text messages each week, timed to their due date or baby’s date of birth.

Read more - click here.

Sue Scheff: Girls Inc - Empowering our daughters today

Girls Incorporated is a national nonprofit youth organization dedicated to inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold. With roots dating to 1864, Girls Inc has provided vital educational programs to millions of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas. Today, innovative programs help girls confront subtle societal messages about their value and potential, and prepare them to lead successful, independent, and fulfilling lives.

Programs Girls Inc develops research-based informal education programs that encourage girls to take risks and master physical, intellectual and emotional challenges. Major programs address math and science education, pregnancy and drug abuse prevention, media literacy, economic literacy, adolescent health, violence prevention, and sports participation.

Read and learn more!  Get involved and make a difference!

Sue Scheff: School Climate - Center for Social and Emotional Education

About School Climate

Our goal is to promote positive and sustained school climate: a safe, supportive environment that nurtures social and emotional, ethical, and academic skills.

CSEE is an organization that helps schools integrate crucial social and emotional learning with academic instruction. In doing so, we enhance student performance, prevent drop outs, reduce physical violence, bullying, and develop healthy and positively engaged adults.

For more than a decade CSEE has worked together with the entire academic community—teacher, staff, school-based mental health professionals, students and parents—to improve a climate for learning.

We help translate research into practice by establishing meaningful and relevant guidelines, programs and services that support a model for whole school improvement with a focus on school climate.
What a fantastic organization and very timely!!!! Visit http://www.schoolclimate.org/  today!

Sue Scheff: Hang Up - Stop Texting and Driving

Eighty percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction. Take cell phones for example - their use while driving can reduce the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. Drivers who use phones are four times as likely to get into crashes. - Source: First Coast News

Using a cell phone while driving can delay a person's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent.
Nearly 6,000 people died in 2008 in crashes involving a distracted or inattentive driver, and more than half a million were injured.

• Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
• Driving while using a cell phone reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent.
• Eighty percent of all crashes and 65 percent of near crashes involve some type of distraction.

Talking, texting and driving can kill the same way drinking and driving can. As more and more teens use texting as their first course of communication, they are the ones we need to stress that texting and driving can kill. Parents need to be firm on their rules of texting, talking and driving. No text is worth dying over.

Read more and watch video.