Sex and the 12 Year Old

I have always been an advocate for personal choice. Humans should be entitled to certain inalienable rights. I also believe that it's impossible for a person to do the right thing if they have never been taught the right way. I also suppose that the "right thing" is a matter of perception. However, I am extremely disturbed by a Portland Maine middle school's decision to offer birth control to sixth graders.

Is it the fact that 12 year olds are having sex that bothers me? No. The things that bother me are that parent's aren't involved enough in their children's lives to know that they are having sex in the first place.

The issue at hand is not necessarily that children are having sex, but that parent's let their children run amuck (amuck, amuck, amuck) in the first place. Part of parental responsibility is have open lines of communication so that your children can come to you with questions and draw on your life experience.

Perhaps if parent's were more involved in raising their children, instead of over indulging them, some of the issues we see in today's world would be non-existent. I know, I know, I vocalize my dissatisfaction with parenting regularly. I just feel so strongly that children are a product of their environment, which begins in the home.

Anyway, all I am saying is that should a school be providing birth control without parental consent , probably not. But they are and the best way to counteract that is to make sure as a parent you have raised your children to share your personal moral beliefs so that they can make the right decision or come to you first to discuss the decisions they are about to make. Monitor your children. Know where they are, who they are with and what they are doing. I don't understand why that's so difficult to do.