Parents: Protect your children from STDs
To hear that my home of Fresno has one of the highest rates for sexually transmitted diseases in California scares me. I am not scared for myself but for my peers. As a senior in high school, I have heard so many sexual-intercourse stories. To think that they don’t know if that sex partner has AIDS is frightening.
Fresno needs to step up, and it has to start with young adults at home. So many parents are afraid to have “the talk” with their child. They need to have that talk; they need to buy their children condoms. Like it or not, their child will not be a virgin forever. Sex is inevitable.
The question parents need to ask themselves is would they rather have their child have protected sex or get an STD? We need to wake up and take this seriously. My parents told me that they didn’t learn about sex till they were seniors, and now they have dropped it down to freshmen because teen pregnancy is so common.
I am 17, and my parents haven’t had the talk with me. What are the parents waiting for? It is now or never.
Marriah Hester, Fresno
This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Parents: Protect your children from STDs."