Monday, October 05, 2009

Sometimes talking helps, maybe not when you want it too, but one day...


Okay there must be something in the food. Otherwise, why are these young girls in their teens like 13 and up so sexually active? If they are not, they are trying to. I am so tired of talking girls into waiting. Well, begging them to. But it must be done. You know that adage, if I can help one person, then my life is not in vain. Well, I think those words might even be a song too. But talking does work. When you take an interest in teens and they began to trust you, good things can happen.

Imagine this! I saw a teenage girl whose mother asked me to work with. She wanted me to encourage her daughter to refrain from sex until she was eighteen. Every year I upped the age. “Can you wait until 16, you waited this long? Let's wait okay.” Then at 17, I would ask again, “Would you wait until 17?” I would talk about boys using girls, leaving them with babies, no future, diseases, etc. The young girl told me no way. She loved her boyfriend and would not wait any longer. She was like, “I waited three years.”

So my instructions from the mother were this. If she will not wait, call her dad and make her a doctors’ appointment. Her dad will take her for birth control and counseling because I cannot imagine my daughter having sex this young and I don't want to know. So at 17, I called the girls' dad. He was sad but they honor their word that if she waited one of her parents would go with her and assure that she understood how to protect herself. (It was their only daughter).

Well to make a long story short, the young girl went to the college I graduated from. She became the first college graduate of her entire immediate and extended family. She went through domestic violence with the boy, and she broke up with him. She called me and we talked throughout her college days. Imagine she has her BS degree in Social Work, her Masters' in counseling and is now working on her PhD. She called to thank me for helping and encouraging her to be something. I am so proud of her. Though she did not wait until marriage, she was able to come to her senses and do something with her life. She is now counseling teen girls.
Imagine that!

3 comments:

TJ said...

What a great blessing! You helped that girl to make something of her life. Now she can help others. How great is that! 13 year old girls having sex is becoming more commonplace, but it is still a hot, tore-up from the floor up, mess.

Dee said...

I don't know that this is so new--maybe just not talked about as much before
abuse has always been a factor
mistakes have been a factor
but it was tabu--many years ago you got sent away to live with an aunt or an adoption facility if you got pregnant and your family was well to do or they would figure out a home abortion if you were poor
But now these things are in the open--society has always had problems

Anonymous said...

It's obvious you've made a difference, and continue to do so. Keep up the good work!