Avoid a Teenage Pregnancy
When teens become pregnant, it can result in family discord, financial hardship, lower educational goals or abortion. An ounce of prevention is truly valuable.
Instructions
1. Abstain from sexual activity until you are emotionally and financially able to care for a child. Once you become a teenage mother, your entire life revolves around that child. All your plans for trips, friends, college and recreation are on the back burner. Motherhood is a full-time job.
2. Take a "Baby Think it Over" class to get a better understanding of the demands having a child puts on your life. Baby Think it Over is a simulated infant with computerized actions and responses. It will wake you every 2 hours for feedings and it will cry if left alone too long.
3. Sign up for teenage sexuality classes in your school. The more you know about how your body works, the less likely it is you will get pregnant accidentally. You will learn methods to prevent pregnancy if you are sexually active.
4. Sit down and think about what you want out of life. Many teens live for the moment and, in doing so, become parents long before they are ready. When you're a teenager, you have your whole life ahead of you; consider your options and the risks before you make the choice to become sexually active.
5. Talk to your school counselor to get condoms and information about other methods of birth control if you are already sexually active. Not only do condoms reduce the risk of pregnancy, they also offer protection from Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs).
6. Have a discussion with your boyfriend about waiting to have sex or, alternately, taking precautions if you are already having sex. If your boyfriend won't agree to safe sex, it may be wise to find a new boyfriend.
