Sex Education for Teens

Teaching Sex Education for Teens

When it comes to teaching sex ed, you may be asking yourself, how exactly did you get signed up for this one? As awkward and intimidating as it may sound, administering sex education for teens is one of the most important jobs you can have as an advocate, mentor, teacher, or friend to this diverse and often challenging demographic. Below are a few tips for getting your point across without too much of a struggle:

• Give it to them straight. Teens see right through sugar coating, and they will respect you much more if you are honest and direct.

• Find some fun…somewhere. Sex as an adult can be a fun and enjoyable experience, so why paint it as a rigid and fear-filled world to those who are at an age most curious about it?

• Have confidence. Teens will smell your fear and prey upon it. Go in prepared with knowledge and they will take you seriously.

• Actually be prepared. Not doing your homework ahead of time will damage your presentation and your relationship with the teens in your classroom.

What Should Be Covered?

Sex education for teens can include a diverse and wide array of topics. Keep it simple with the facts they need to know, leaving time at the end for questions. Preparing them with vital knowledge without complicating things will get them thinking, and they will help guide you in what discussions should follow based upon their own curiosities and questions.

Common Myths

The first section of your instruction should cover common myths. Below are a few that most teens have heard; however most remain uninformed about the reality behind the rumors.

1)You can’t get pregnant the first time you have sex. – Says who? Cite real life examples of people you know or news clips you have seen that exemplify the harsh reality that yes, you can get pregnant the first time, and believing that virgins are granted a buffer period can lead to trouble. What sort of trouble? Well, a baby for example.

2)Birth control is difficult to obtain. – Planned Parenthood offers excellent resources you can use for your presentation, including brochures with phone numbers and addresses to the nearest clinics in your area that not only provide birth control, but supply it to those under age 18.

3)It’s too expensive. – Again, Planned Parenthood provides affordable birth control. Still a concern for your students? Consider reminding them about low-cost contraceptive such as condoms. If you had release forms signed prior to your sex ed course, you can even hand them out to students for free.

4)“Pulling out” will prevent conception. – The truth of the matter is bodily fluids are exchanged during intercourse, causing a risk of pregnancy whether or not the guy happens to be a pull out champion.

5)Having sex is a way of expressing love. – Yes, but not when you are sixteen. Emphasize the importance of committed relationships and how sex is a love expression for those with a wedding ring. Many teens equate sex with love, and breaking that illusion can help promote abstinence or safe sex only within a long-standing relationship.

Accepting the Reality of Abstinence

While abstaining from sexual intercourse is ideal for teens, teaching sex education with this as the only goal can lead to disaster. Many teenagers are well-intentioned, but they are also subject to peer pressure and the anxious feeling of wanting to experience adulthood. Trusting that one talk geared toward sex education for teens will keep them abstinent until their wedding night is an ignorant way of thinking.

While the importance of abstinence should be emphasized, most teens unfortunately will still lose their virginity to a passing schmuck while still in high school, or even during middle school. Prepare them with the knowledge they need to remain safe, such as where to locate birth control, how to put on a condom, and how to be an assertive individual who knows how to say “no.”

Sex education does not have to be an awkward or difficult conversation to have. Remain confident in the information you were commissioned to provide. Chances are you will impact at least one young life through your words.