Teen pregnancy prevention: Everybody's doing it | Amy Johnson

May is National Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, and in case you were wondering what on earth you can do, here are suggestions from The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy..

Anyone

Do you have a website? If so, you can post a link to the National Day Quiz at www.stayteen.org/quiz or play the Stay Teen Block Party Game at www.stayteen.org/quiz/game.

The quiz was designed to help teens think about what they would do in a series of uncertain sexual situations. Please note that based on last year’s survey, 74 percent said taking the quiz made them think about what they would do in these types of situations. 59 percent said the situations depicted were things that they or their friends had faced. And 56 percent said they’d learned something new about the consequences of sex by taking the quiz.

Keep the link up all month.

Businesses and organizations

Host or sponsor a forum in your community on the topic of teen pregnancy.

Provide some sort of incentive, like a coupon or product, for teens to take the National Day Quiz.

Parents

Encourage your children to take the quiz or play the Stay Teen Block Party Game.

Download the Parent Quiz Discussion Guide and use the quiz as a conversation starter with your children about sex, love, and relationships. You can find the guide at this website.

Organize a local PTA/community center event on parent/child communication about sex, love, values, and relationships.

Adults who work with teens

Encourage teens to take the quiz.

Download the Teen Quiz Discussion Guide at this website and share it with teens you work with.

Teachers: Offer extra credit to those students who take the quiz.

Teens

Take the quiz.

Make posters about Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, and put them up in your school and community.

Put a link to the quiz on your Facebook or MySpace pages, or e-mail it to your friends.

You

Teen pregnancy is everyone’s issue. The cost to our local, state and national economies is staggering. Futures are disrupted, education remains incomplete, and more medical, educational and social needs develop — draining our already-stretched resources. Don’t do nothing because you can’t do everything. Find one thing on the list above and commit to doing it during May.

Contact Federal Way Mirror Sex in the Suburbs Amy Johnson at comments@diligentjoy.com.

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