I work at a hospital answering the phones. I usually work in the evenings but once in a while I get a graveyard shift and after working a few of these shifts I have noticed a troubling pattern that I now refer to as the "terrified 3 am phone calls".
You see every night (or should I say morning) around 3 am the hospital phones light up with calls from scared teenagers.
"Do you guys do tests for STD's?"
"I just had sex with this guy I don't really know. Should I see a doctor?"
"Do you guys know where to get those morning after pills?"
"How long does it take to find out if I got pregnant tonight?"
The day doesn't matter. These calls are constant....and troubling. I live in a small town...just one tiny piece of America...and I know that at 3 am the phones are ringing in other hospitals all over this country. This is a problem. A big one.
It seems that at 3 am young people like us are figuring out what we did wrong...and are getting regrets and worries. It seems that at 3 am the possible consequences of our actions are hitting us all in the head like bags of rocks. It seems that every night...at 3 am...teens all over the country are losing sleep and praying that they can have a do-over.
Why?
There is a problem. We need education. We need to know what happens if we engage in these risky behaviors. We need resources to get us prevention so that we can sidestep some of these problems. But those are not the answers.
Some would like to say they are.
Blame it on everybody else.
The truth however is, is our actions and behaviors are our problems. We need to be conscious of the problems before we engage in the risky behaviors. We need to know them but then we have to be the ones to protect ourselves first. The ideas of teen pregnancy and STD's were not learned by us at 3 am....so then why do we wait until 3 am to remember them?
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I still blame this problem on the parents. I know not all parents can help it, but really it is partly their fault for not monitoring what their teens are doing. My mom watched me like a hawk and called excessively, at the time it was annoying, but it saved me. Parents need to talk to their children early before it is too late. This is what I believe. Intervention starts with the parents. We are having this problem more than ever now because parents are working too much and not spending enough time with their children. I understand some parents have to work, but instead of buying your kid an 20,000 dollar car..why don't you educate them about sex?
http://www.progressiveu.org/032913-lupus-uncureable-wait-what
Love comments? I do too!
I completely agree. Parents do not talk to their kids enough.
A novel approach to the topic of teen sex and sex ed. I liked it.
46% of 15-19-year-olds are sexually active. Among 19-year-olds exclusively, seven out of ten have had sex. Kids need to know they have a parent to talk to about sex. I am going to make sure my kids knows that they can talk to me about it, and I will work hard to make sure they are comfortable doing so, because there's a fifty-fifty shot that they're going to have sex in high school. I want to steer them away from all the misinformation and fear out there.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Education is key. If the people involved truly realized the risks associated with unsafe sex, parents wouldn't need to supervise their kids or watch them like a hawk to prevent it. Watching your kids like a hawk to prevent them from stabbing themselves to death isn't an issue because they understand the consequences involved. Anyone that calls in asking how long it takes to tell if you're pregnant or not obviously doesn't understand sex or its workings.
I love abortion. Read more here:
http://progressiveu.org/044921-i-love-abortion-even-if-it-murder
Yes, teens do in fact need to be educated about sex. They need to know the way to have sex safely. They need to know how to get and properly use contraceptives. But most of all they need to be told that sex should occur between two people who have an emotional connection first.
On that note, all the sex education in the world will not stop those 3am phone calls. Not until teens are also taught how to be responsible with alcohol. Not until young women are taught to self-confidence. Not until sex becomes useless as a form of rebellion. Sex education is terrific and could certainly help the problem, but sex education alone is not effective. Poor choices aren't made because the kids don't know that they should use a condom, they happen because these other issues aren't dealt with at the same time.
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." - Victor Hugo
Yup, I'm a music nerd.
i think that at 3 am people freak themselves out so much that they call just to get an answer. when you leave yourself to your thoughts for too long then you start to get clouded by all your thoughts and cant handle it. i have had a 3am phone call. im not gona lie about it. and i think that teenagers learn threw mistakes. sometimes it makes your life change but telling someone over and over information they already know isnt going to help anyone. making mistakes is how people learn. our parents prob had 3am phone calls too... we just dont want to think about that. but its sad that you have to deal with so many people making their mistakes.
Rest in peace
yourfuneralguy
http://www.lowercostfuneral.com/rbrianblog
parents need to educate not police teenagers
Bravo! Education is definitely what we need above all else. Pushing abstinence is great, but impractical. Teenagers need to know how to protect themselves, both men and women need to take responsibility for their own safety. I know a guy who's past the "teenage" marker by quite a few years and still just expects the woman to be on birth control and so doesn't use a condom. Really, I about smacked him upside his head when he said that.
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Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. --Mahatma Gandhi
My Blog: http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/kablock
My PhotoBlog: http://takingpictures.wordpress.com
That is definitely what I would call "not responsible enough to have sex". If even half the people (teenagers and adults alike) that were sexually active were actually responsible enough to be sexually active... the world would probably stop spinning, etc.
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