A month for everything
In January, my daughter decided we needed a calendar in our kitchen. She wanted to be able to see the dates and look forward to things we had planned. I told her to pick one out, and she proudly hung it in the kitchen.
She started out strong, but after the first two months, I started to notice it was February for six weeks.
It was a tad frustrating to be honest, because she was very insistent on getting the calendar. It was one she assured me we needed to make our life better. It wasn’t a calendar of puppies, or a calendar of babies in big, fake flowers. It was a daily recognition calendar. And every day is something new to recognize.
In addition to the typical calendar holidays, this particular calendar calls attention to National Cheese Pizza Day (September 5), International Speak Like a Pirate Day (September 19), National Cupcake Day (December 15) and National Walk Your Dog Day (February 22).
And if we are being honest, there are lots of serious causes that stake claims on different days or months. Women’s History Month, Black History Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and even Child Abuse Prevention Month are all worthy causes.
But May is of special interest to me. Sure, it’s the month of my anniversary, the month of my husband’s birthday, and the month I became a boy mom. But it’s also Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month.
While The EDGE is of course concerned with the choices and decisions our students are making every day, our program was started in response to the record-breaking teen pregnancy rate of Rhea County. Organizers recognized that one of the best ways to protect the future of teens was to work to prevent pregnancy. And the best, most effective way to prevent pregnancy is to avoid the behavior that results in pregnancy. Sex.
In today’s culture, many people tend to think that teen sexual activity isn’t a big deal. It’s thought that kids will simply be kids, and our job as parents is just to lessen the blow of the consequences. But in all actuality, teen sex is a big deal. In fact, the Center for Disease Control actually labels teen sexual activity as a risky behavior. And as we have seen time and time again, risk behaviors cluster.
So, what are we, The EDGE doing to raise awareness about Teen Pregnancy Prevention this month? Well, for starters, we are writing this column. We are working to inform parents of the long-term consequences of teen pregnancy (I know I’ve written about the Success Sequence. And the last step of that process is delaying childbearing until at least married, and the age of 20). We are providing resources to parents to talk about Teen Pregnancy Prevention with their kids. And we are reminding them that for optimal health, risk avoidance is the best choice. We have free resources available for download on our website (www.TheEdgeOnLife.org), and have other resources available by giving us a call at our office.
We are also launching a social media campaign to target our students. It’s important that they know the best form of pregnancy prevention is sexual risk avoidance. We will provide them with refusal skills and hopefully encourage them to make the healthiest choice for the present and future.
And we also want to hear from them. We know teens want to be heard, and we also know they like free money. So, we are hosting an essay contest open to high school students. High schoolers are invited to submit an essay on the impact of teen pregnancy using one of two writing prompts: 1) In your opinion, what is the greatest difficulty associated with teen pregnancy, or 2) What impact would a teen pregnancy have on your goals for your future?
Essays should be 350-600 words, and emailed to tiffany@theedgeonlife.org by May 17. Essays will be judged, and the winning essay writer will find themselves $100 (in Amazon gift cards) richer!
All too often, we take the time to celebrate and recognize things that, while fun like Intergalactic Star Wars Day, really have no bearing or influence on the future. So, while there are plenty of things worth noting for May (Batman Day, Lemonade Day, World Laughter Day and Dance Like a Chicken Day), my attention will be focused not just on one day, but the whole month. Because preventing teen pregnancy is much better for the future than Chocolate Chip Cookie Day.