As a mother of a 5 year old girl, it terrifies me to think that I may soon have to take my child to have a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease for fear of her later having cervical cancer. How do you as a mother explain this scenario to a 12 year old or better yet a 9 year old? When your child is at that age you still imagine her playing double dutch and having sleep overs with her girlfriends. I know realistically in the world that we live in today that children are having sex at young ages, but no one wants to think that it will be her daughter. So how do we explain to our children as young as 9 years old that we want them to get shots to help protect them from a sexually transmitted disease when they don't even truly understand the dynamics of sex? I don't have the answer but I welcome comments from those who think they may.
It's also a question that leads me to examine the parenting skills of black parents. I know that black mother's from less wealthy backgrounds rarely, if ever, have conversations with their daughters about sex in general so how do health care professionals expect them to have a conversation and explain getting a vaccine to prevent getting HPV to the daughters that they never have a sex talk with at all? Black women need to spend more time educating their children about sexual behavior. I know first hand that my mother never talked to me about sex and that may have something to do with me getting pregnant at 16. Children should not get their sex education from music videos, their friends, or from anyone off the street. It is up to us to teach our children about safe sex and abstinence and how to value their bodies and love themselves enough to not just give their most precious gift to just anyone. We as black women have a duty to protect our children at all cost because no one else will.
1 comment:
I would say don't tell her why she is getting the shot if she is too young for sex talk. If I had a 9 year old and she was getting vaccinated, I would probably give her no explanation. I would probably explain it to my 12 year old though because thats when kids start thinking about sex. I guess thats also a good point to start sex talk.
You know the last time I went to the doctor she told me every sexually active woman should have it. She recommended that I get and I'm 26. I have been skeptical about the vaccine altogether because it is new to the market and I hate to think of myself as the guinea pig. Also I agree about sex talk, my mother NEVER spoke to me about sex and I also think I would have waited longer if someone would have even mentioned it.
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