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Jamie Lynn Spears’ Pregnancy Sparks Debate Over Sex Education

The recent announcement of Jamie Lynn Spears’ 3 month pregnancy has sparked a variety of debates over school programs that teach sex education. Parents from all over the country are pointing fingers at the abstinence-based sex education programs that are being taught in todays’ schools, claiming that these basic abstinence centered and statistical evidence programs aren’t working. Since many schools have undergone massive country-wide budget cuts, most of these health classes have been trimmed down to biological information or piggy-backed into general health and nutrition classes and do not include information about contraceptive options and proper usage.

The head media spokesperson for Planned Parenthood has stated that these programs are certainly not working and teen pregnancy is on the rise. Teen pregnancies between the age of 15-17 have seen an increase this year of a whopping three percent. This is the highest spike in teen pregnancies since 1991, and has a lot of parents nationwide concerned and taking a closer look at the information their children are receiving both within school systems and at home. Planned Parenthood stresses the importance of talking to your children early and suggests that while abstinence is definitely the most effective options, parents should make sure that this is not the only option they are presented with.

While there has been a spike in pregnancies in the ages 15-17, the age group that has been most affected has been centered around ages 18-19, almost tripling the numbers from the subsequent group. While parents have been quick to point fingers at school systems, I think the finger should more appropriately be focused on the media and their portrayal of young women in television, music, fashion and film.

Most notably is Jamie Lynn Spears’ notorious bad-girl older sister Brittany. The flash-bang pop tart has been the center of gossip news in the last few years consistently due to her wild antics and upsetting parenting patterns displayed by Spears in a number of altercations. In December, Spears was removed as the primary guardian of her children to her refusal to take a drug test and for multiple public displays of negligent parenting. As the patterns of pop idols and role models for young women are slowly changing to more respectable figures, we as parents have to make sure that we are monitoring what our children are watching on television, and pay close attention to those figures we find our kids admiring.

While the media has started to turn focus to more positive topics and role models, gossip news has not lost it’s daytime television hold on it’s audiences. Jamie Lynn Spears’ recent confession of pregnancy was even highlighted in the midst of world news on CNN prime time. I was appalled. Does this kind of media have a place in our worldwide news? While we cannot shelter or prevent our kids from seeing and being exposed to this trashy type of exploitative news, it is our responsibility to make sure that our children understand how we feel about these figures and offer support and discussion surrounding any topic they have questions about.

While it may not be necessary to have he traditional sit down “birds and bees” conversation it is essential to the health and safety of your children to talk to them about sex and their options if the child does engage in sexual practices. While you should always promote abstinence, I think it is equally important to stress maturity, responsibility, and awareness surrounding the topic. Don’t let your kids get themselves into a situation they can’t handle, prepare them before it’s too late! Maybe things would be different in the Spears family if there had been more communication and more engagement in the lives of their children. While our kids may not always make the decisions that we would ideally like them to, we can help them to make better decisions by educating and talking to them about the facts and issues surrounding this topic and all topics with a mature and open attitude.