Dating Guidelines and Safeguards for Teens

While it is important for teens to be aware of the risks involved in pre-marital sex, the parents also play a vital role in safeguarding the sexual purity of their children. Following are some suggestions for helping your teen to remain sexually pure:

1. Encourage group dating among trustworthy kids you know well. Explain the importance of never being alone with their date.
2. Know their friends and the guys/girls they are attracted to and hang out with. Teach your kids the importance of choosing friends wisely.
3. Frequently open your home to their friends.
4. Keep the lines of communication open with your teens. They need to feel free to discuss their interests, feelings, etc. with you without fear that you will over-react or punish them unfairly. Initiate discussions with them as opportunities arise. Take an interest in their lives while respecting their privacy.
5. Set and enforce strict curfews.
6. Monitor Internet activity. Install protective software.
7. Teach them the importance of avoiding sexually explicit movies, books, and magazines.
8. Teach them the importance of avoiding sexually stimulating activities or discussions.
9. Girls: Teach them the importance of dressing and behaving modestly.
10. Girls: Teach them about the power of flirting and the danger of visual stimulation and physical touch.
11. Girls: Teach them about the differences in how men/women view sex.
12. Boys: Teach them to respect all women of all ages.
13. Boys: Teach them about appropriate boundaries (touching, kissing, etc.)* with girls and the danger of engaging their hormones without safeguards in place.
14. Teach your teens what to look for in a lifelong mate and stress the importance and the value of remaining sexually pure until marriage.
15. The fact is that abstinence is the only 100% effective preventative measure against sexually transmitted diseases, teen pregnancy, and all the other consequences of sex outside of marriage. While opponents of abstinence-only education will rave about "safe sex" through use of condoms and detailed, explicit sex education, the only truly effective safeguard against the perils of teen and extramarital sex is abstinence.

*We recommend no touching or kissing during the teen years.