Cultural Contrception

The issue of contrception varies emmensly over the different cultural and or religious beliefs. On side of the issue is the hispanic/catholic culture and their belief against all forms of contraception. I have a coworker who is currently pregnant with her second child. In casual conversation about the upcoming birth of her child I asked her, how many more children she wanted. She responded by saying "I only want 2 but its not up to me." I asked her what she meant and she explained that "Mexicans dont use condoms." She continued to explain that the Mexican culture doesnt believe that people should do anything to control or prevent pregnancy because it is up to Gods plan whether a woman gets pregnant or not. I also asked my coworker about use of condoms as a form of protection from STDs and she simply answered "no condoms!!" My families views are ass apposing as can be. From the time I was a teenager I was always encouraged to not have sex until I was able to make a mature/adult decision about it but no matter when I do have sex to BE SAFE!!! Safety was taught to me and my brother more than abstinence. When my brother got his first serious girlfriend in highschool, my dad took him to get condoms and my mother took me to get birth control when I was 15 and had my first serious boyfriend. Contraception was an issue of birth control and personal health and saftey in my family. I think the openness and comftability in combination of education and knowledge of the subject of birth control and profalactics is the reason no in my immidiate or extended family ever had any teenage pregnancy or even pregnancy scares.

We need to abstain from teaching abstinence

In a perfect world we would never have to worry about what our children do when we are not around, there would be no temptations, and we would be confident that our children will always make the right decision in various situations. Unfortunately as great as that may sound it is truly a fairy tale. In the real world, kids are bombarded by sexual content and are confronted with situations in which sexual contact can occur many many times more than most parents know or would ever want to know about. Times are different now then in they were in the past. Sex is everywhere: TV, movies, songs, magazines, and sexy clothing is marketed to younger and younger kids every day. This is why schools need to take a realistic approach to teaching sex ed. Children need to be provided with correct and complete information to provide a true understanding of sex, the repercussions, consequences, and effects of choices. Schools need to provide use as many approaches as possible to teach sex ed so kids will be able to make a educated decision in the inevitable situations they will encounter. To teach only abstinence is more harmful than teaching nothing. To say "just dont do it until you are married" provides nothing substantial for children to grasp on to. The abstinence-only approach is idealistic in thinking children will listen to that suggestion without any pertinent information to go along with it. As nice as an idea as that may be, it is incredibly ignorant, and does more harm than good. By strictly teaching abstinence, children have no knowledge of anything pertaining to sex and when in a situation involving sex they will have nothing to base their decision on except an idea that a teacher and/or parent may have told them. Also, it is in an adolescents nature to question, rebel or defy suggetions of their superiors which can lead to severe consequences. A prime example of that is Sara Palin and her youngest daughter. Sara Palin is a strict believer in abstinence and only abstinence to the point where she looks down on those who teach anything else. As most now know her youngest daughter just had a baby at the age of 16. Even more recently, Palin's daughter went on TV to express her feelings about how teaching abstinence doesn't work and that it should not be taught. Her unfortunate situation is proof about how teaching only abstinence is not a logical option for educating adolescents on the subject of sex. As much as I may not agree with the teaching of abstinence, I truly believe we should provide our children with ALL information, including that of abstinence and hope with a true understanding that with proper up bringing they will make smart decisions.

Adolescent Healthy Behaviors

Adolescence is a very delicate time. It is a time for everyone in which things are changing, growing, maturing and this causes a lot of confusion and questions. It is because of this confusion and these questions that make adolescents a very crucial time for teaching and encouraging healthy behaviors. The ignorance and lack of proper knowledge is what causes many issues for maturing children in understanding what is happening to them,what is best for them now and in the future as well as the negative effects of poor choices. The majority of the issues that these kids deal with are based around their self esteem and self worth and this is what has be at the foremost of your plan for talking to adolescents. People have to be extremely careful when address bad, unhealthy, or maybe even just different thoughts, ideas, behaviors, etc then theirs that they dont misunderstand any guidance or suggestions as insults or put downs because adolescents are full of self doubt anyway. My personal thought is that the best idea for parents is that they need to make sure their kids are comfortable. Both parents and kids alike dread that important sit down "talk" because it is so awkward and informal. If parents make sure the lines of communication are left open and you talk freely about yourselves and your children that way if when something comes up they would likely just casually ask you and your initial intent is accomplished without any of that awkwardness for either side. The final point that parents should keep in mind is they really need to keep things on their level or they wont be interested let alone care. If parents talk about the effects of doing or not doing something will have in a few years or even months but their kids cant think past Friday night and who they are gonna go to the school dance with, its going to be near impossible them to look that far ahead to care about what you are discussing. Also along those lines, dont talk over their heads, make sure they understand you. Dont get into too many InfoPath topics or discuss a lot of minor details of things that they are just know beginning to understand within themselves or might not necessarily pertain to them. If they dont understand or dont care about what is being talked about they will loose interest very quickly and eventually tune it all out. So if parents can remember to keep conversations casual and light about things their kids really care about it will significantly help with those "difficult" conversations that have to be had or best of all they are so comfortable with talking to their parents and trust them that whenever issues arise in their lives that they bring them to the attention of their parents by asking questions they have or express interest in further information. Now that seems a little too good to be true but you never know...

Healthcare: A Priveledged Right

I had a really difficult time answering the question of whether I thought healthcare as a right or a privelege. The reason it was so difficult for me was because I didnt see it as either one, in fact I saw it as both. It is the right of every living being to be the best he/she/it can be in every possible. Every person has the right to be as healthy as they can be and be able to use every available resource in order to obtain the highest level of health as they can. No one person has the right to "play god." No one has the right to directly effect, positively or negatively, the well being of another. This is my basis on why I think healthcare is a right. Noone or no group of people have the right to directly effect another if it doesnt effect them in return, whether that be providing or witholding anything from one person over another. It should be equally available to everyone regardless of race, creed, gender, age, socio-economic class, etc. No outside variable should effect the bottom line that everyone has an equal right to be as healthy as they want or choose.
Now looking at Heath care along the lines of a privilege is done on a broader level. No one has the right to withhold or offer any resource that could lead to a persons, health, happiness, success and over all well being, Other themselves. Now that being said it is an absolute privilege to have the options. Many people within this country and many countries in general don't have the same resources, aid, support, information or funding that we as Americans, some more then others, and even within this country are privileged to a higher level of of care and health care then others are by no fault of their own. We could could most definitely have the right to the plethora of medical resources the Americans have because no one is preventing them from being able to use it but many countries dont have has much available period witch makes us so privileged. Though some countries have the ability to access the same resources the U.S does but due to a lack of financs are not privileged to have them readily available. We must not take advantage of our great right to be the best we can be because that it not something that everyone is as priveleged to.