The Waiting Room

No doubt, you have heard about this.

Wow.

I remember one of my students at my former college telling me how she had to explain to her 11 year old daughter that she could not play with her 12 year old friend becuase the 12 year old was pregnant.

I raised the issue in my Critical Thinking class. One student told me that when she was 10, she was at the hospital while her mother was giving birth to her little sister. The student heard a young girl screaming and asked a nurse what was wrong. The nurse told her that it was a 12 year old giving birth...to twins.

Sweet merciful crap.

I don't know if it is a good idea to allow middle school aged girls having access to the birth control pill and patch. I am all for the use of birth control.

But at THAT age?

The district says that a girl would need her parent's permission. That seems ridiculous to me because if a parent felt that his or her child needed birth control, wouldn't that parent contact the child's medical provider?

The pill does not protect against STDs. It seems like that is just as much of a concern, if not bigger, than pregnancy. Oral sex is running rampant in schools. Kids don't think it's sex. But, it is and has dangerous consequences.

Besides, does that really solve the issue? No, I am not going into a abstinence lecture because I am a realist and don't buy the arguement. I just think that this is putting a band-aid on a much bigger problem. We are asking kids to grow up WAY TOO DAMN FAST.

Kid that young should still be playing with toys and going outside. They should not have to deal with cell phones and adult relationships.

Should we focus on WHAT are kids are telling us by this kind of behavior? Forget all the religion and parents rights arguments for just a moment. Bill Cosby was right when he recently stated on "Meet the Press" and later on Oprah.

"Our children are trying to tell us something."

So, instead of passing laws like this or engaging in the never ending debate about sex and religion, maybe we need to LISTEN first.