Abstinence- why I do what I do

My job at the health department is to go into the schools in Huron County and speak about abstinence. For those of you that may not be familiar with what abstinence is, it is the factually based stance that -"You choose not to have sexual intercourse until marriage". The reason that I say that it is factually based is because we have study after study that shows that abstinence works for lowering pregnancy rates, STD rates, and depression levels in teens and young adults.

In the classroom the students teach me as much as I teach them. I teach them how to make better decision based on looking at the consequences. I teach them about what the consequences are and how they can determine their future. I teach them that they have control and ownership over their bodies. I teach them how to resist peer pressure and how to keep out of bad situations. I teach them that healthy relationships fill your emotional tank and bad ones drain it, etc.,etc.,etc.

The students teach me more. They teach me that they are not learning this at home. They teach me that they are getting more of their views of sex and what a relationship is from celebrities and movies than from their parents. They teach me that they crave for someone to tell them that they don't have to have sex because they can and will anyways. They teach me that they are smart and they can (after the class) see that having sex outside of marriage only hurts them and in no way helps their future. They teach me that parents and other adults in their lives need to step up and help them learn how to guard their hearts from those things that would harm them or give them wrong views of sex, since the media and other sources of "entertainment" are only going to continue to damage our kids more and more.

It makes me so upset when I hear our politicians and activists speak up against things such as global warming and the environment, the economy and budgets, immigration and other policies, but no one is speaking up for the moral standards of our nation! I think these things I mentioned above are important, I am just as much a cloth diapering, trash-pick -up, energy saving person as the next, but when it comes to the purity of my family and my kids, this takes priority!

My theory as to why adults are not stepping up to protect our children against sexual impurity (and it is showing with the number of molestation & rape victims increasing) is this. We as adults are NOT living pure lives, and we feel that "well if I like the R-rated movies, and I am living with my partner outside of marriage" then I cannot be the one to be a moral compass for my child. Yes, I know that no one is perfect. I now that I am not perfect, but I do know that will not stop me from protecting Noah and giving him knowledge on how to remain sexually pure. This is ultimately not my decision, but his. However, while he is still a child I will prepare him and give him the tools to make an informed decision. AND I will try to remain a good role model for him.

I am a huge defender of the family unit and this is why I do what I do.