My 9 year old son, Jonathan, thought he was informing me of some news that I hadn't yet heard. I do know that Jamie Lynn Spears has a bun in the oven at age 16, it's hard not to know considering she's Britney's younger sister. But I was somewhat taken aback that my son knew this gossipy and scandalous tidbit. He likes the High School Musical shows and some of the other live action shows that are aimed directly at the "tweener" crowd, but I don't recall him watching the Zoey 101 show. So I'm assuming that the news has spread like wildfire in the halls of his elementary school.
The scary follow-up questions that could have come from my 9 year old did not and I dodged the bullet for now. Not that I want to avoid answering questions about sex, serious answers about teen pregnancy is just a facet that I'm not sure that my son can grasp at this age. I suppose I would have given a true but dumbed down version if he had.
Given the akwardness of the moment I experienced I suppose I can start to understand the outrage that some people feel about the announcement. However, there aren't many of us who can claim that we never made a mistake at that age or didn't narrowly escape one as a teen ourselves. The teen-aged brain is designed to take risks and having unprotected sex at age 16 is a walk in the park. Heck, even Jonathan himself is a result of not pulling out in time, and I was 27 and should have known better.
So while I may scoff at the Spears family for being bat-shit nutso and trailer trash, I can't judge Jamie Lynn for getting knocked up as I know I sweated the arrival of my then 16 year old girlfriend's period a few times myself.
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2 comments:
Um, withdrawal is not a method of birth control.
duh, but it feels better than a condom
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