And now, some positive news about sexual education in Texas. According to a report from MySanAntonio.com, parents from the community are coming out for conversations about how to approach their teens when it comes to talking about where babies come from.
San Antonio, according to this report, has one of the nation’s highest teen pregnancy rates—which isn’t surprising, as one of the parents interviewed assumed that his 12-year-old girls would learn about sex “from TV or friends,” the way that his generation had learned. But his wife convinced him to come learn about how to talk about anatomy, relationships, and sexuality with a group of other concerned parents.
“The family joined about 50 others at a workshop sponsored by Healthy Futures Alliance, Project WORTH and the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District. The free, bilingual workshop aimed to give communication tools to about 50 parents of teens.”
Essentially, the workshop explains how to bring the subject up with teens, like asking them what their expectations of relationships are in order to clarify the more elusive points of what it means to be a sexually active adult. While the speakers advocated for abstinence, they also encouraged parents to talk with their children about safer sex.
This could be a way for conservative states to overcome abstinence-only education. If parents are uncomfortable having their children exposed to accurate biological information about their reproductive systems in a classroom setting, then they need to talk to their children themselves. It’s not always the easiest conversation to have, but open-minded parents—and those who realize the current sex ed system is failing the youth—can learn new ways to approach the subject through this kind of workshop.