Guess Bristol Palin is gracing the cover of people magazine.

over at huffington post they have a link to the people article where bristol palin says that if more teens realized the consequences they would never have sex. I think she is missing the point, here. Sure, folks want their kids to not have sex. Personally, i find that education along with self esteem would probably serve better to prevent kids from doing it. What happens when you just tell a kid not to do something.... of course... they'll do it. And just giving them a lecture and even telling them about the possibility of getting pregnant won't be enough either. Why?? because they are teenagers who don't think past what they are doing right now. But if they are educated about sex and how to prevent pregnancy and std's, and perhaps taught that they are more than their looks or what others think of them.... maybe then you'd have a chance. it's great NOW for bristol palin to think that she should have listened, but now she has a kid and it's too late. the whole point of educating kids is to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STDs.

I just wanted him to be respectful and use protection. didn't bother me at all when he started having sex with his girlfriend when he was 16.

and they are well versed in the use of condoms.

been your daughter instead? Would any of this had made a difference? Consensual sex vs statutory rape? Any of this?

she was not his teacher or in any authority position over him. they met at a music festival. The relationship lasted for nearly a year, and no I didn't see it as her taking advantage of him. I don't know how I'd have reacted with a daughter in the same situation. I think it's a case by case sort of thing. When I was 17 I had an affair with a guy who in his early twenties. I was on the pill, just about to graduate from prep school. He was my house mother's son. We spent a wild and fun summer renting a house with a bunch of other kids in the Berkshires. I have nothing but fond memories of the guy.

:applause:

past what they are doing right now. Consider the people who smoke, despite the reports stating the ill effects of smoking, the incidence of cancer attributed to smoking, etc. It isn't just teenagers, it's people as a whole. Taken as a whole, maybe it's just that people aren't very bright, or we don't learn from the mistakes of others.

"...because they are teenagers who don't think past what they are doing right now..."

any other way. though, there are plenty of adults with the same problem. and invincibility. it won't happen to ME. teens i think are especially different, because they are kids and aren't paying bills or having a job. so if they DO end up having a pregnancy or something, they are less capable of financially supporting themselves. i was 25 when i had and unintended pregnancy... i left college and went and got a job. i can't imagine what it would have been like had i been 15 or 16. it was ignorance on my part which contributed to it happening. i wouldn't trade my daughter for anything, but a little education on my part as to when a woman is capable of conceiving would have been helpful. that was my own fault because i was an adult...

people do stupid things at all ages. generally younger folks don't have the context or comparison part of the equation to help them. they don't see consequences really. and depending on the support they have available to them, such a thing as a pregnancy could make it harder for them to succeed. if their parents kick them out, for instance, they may end up having to quit school and get a job.

...with abstinence itself, which is.

Driver's education courses don't teach children never to get in a car. They teach responsibility.

I've got news for you there are adults who don't think past the here and now when they have sex.

Bristol Palin is another great example of closing the barn door after the horse gets out, and personally I question her sincerity on this topic. I see mommy dearest pulling the the strings on this, so that if she runs for higher office again she can show off her contrite daughter for the neocon anti-sex crowd.

...as he gets older, and reads all the articles and sees all the videos his mom made talking about what a big mistake he was.

Seriously, she needs to concentrate on being a mom rather than telling everyone else not to be one. She obviously has no credibility in telling everyone else *how* not to be one -- she failed at that. So now she should concentrate on being a good mom, and stop telling everyone what a mistake her beautiful baby boy is.

poorly indeed. She most certainly IS, as you say, presenting her son a big mistake and that is REALLY unfortunate. I think she needs to concentrate on becoming an educated, accomplished person in her own right so that she's not beholden to her mother or dependent on anyone in any way. Only then will she be free as a parent and as a person. She owes herself and her child that.

No mistake to advocate against teen pregnancy, and I do not object to her doing so. That is her choice and her right. However, her emphasis on what a "mistake" she made is a bad way to go about it.

I could not agree more with your comments that she should free herself from the toxic family situation. Even if I agreed with Sarah Palin politically, I'd recognize this as a very bad situation for Bristol, who is under the thumb of an overbearing diva of a mom.

It's almost like it some part of the life cycle or something. People have a pretty overwhelming desire to have it. It's part of you. It's pretty funny to pretend it's not a basic part of the human existence and people will just not do it because you know they'll think about the consequences.

have sex to have babies.... period. and our hormones go crazy as teens because you are at the age to have children, and an innate instinct is furthering the species. i contend that what separates us from animals is our ability to control when we have children. i know that as a child i was curious about things, but sex was something we did not discuss. anything i learned came from school and my friends. and if someone tells a kid not to do something, like having sex... especially without an explanation that involves more than don't do it. because i said so. then the kids are going to do things out of curiosity and because they were told not to. they have urges they don't understand and they don't seem to have the ability to think past this weekend (adults are like that too).

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(pregnancy, Stds -etc) tend to NOT experience teen pregnancies as much as those families in which sexuality is *never* talked about.

"My parents and the State of Alaska are going to pay for and make sure
I have all the help I need to raise their grandchild.
Now, I love the little bugger and I do have my trophy and all is well
with my world...so when I talk about consequences...I mean if you
have a welfare baby or you have to struggle in any way financially
..that wouldn't be good...but, do as I say...not as I do...and I sure would
hate for baby Tripp to grow up without a little brother or
sister...and I have all these baby stuff so maybe I should think about
getting on the stick soon...any repug guy out there looking for a ready made family?"...

Love you all...Bristol and son, Tripp..