Joe Young wrote:

Tell me Rich...why does anyone other than her parents need to tell her

anything?

That's a good question. In an ideal world, parents would be
knowledgable about the
facts of life and comfortable talking about them with their kids. They
would be home
whenever the kids were home, and they'd make sure they knew where their
kids were
when the kids went out with friends. Life would be perfect, and there
would never be
an abortion.

Unfortunately, I happen to live in the real world. This world contains
entirely too
many single parent families, often families where the sole parent has to
work two jobs
just to keep food on the table. This world also contains thousands of
"latch-key" kids
who come home to an empty house, with the parents not expected to be
home for
another three or four hours. In the remaining families, many parents are
completely
uncomfortable with the idea of sex. The "talk" consists of the parents
stammering and
stuttering, and finally saying something like "here's a book, ask your
mother if you have
any questions, and don't do it."

It would be nice if every parent accepted their responsibilities like
you suggest, but
until that happens someone needs to step in and fill the gap. Right now,
it isn't happening.

Rich Lemert