National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Today is the National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy! It is important to recognize this day because there are millions of teens out there who have had their lives changed by a pregnancy they weren’t expecting.

In observance of this day, I recommend that you do one of the three things: visit and take the quiz or play the Block Party Game on stayteen.org, watch an episode of 16 and Pregnant, or reflect of five ways your life would change if you got pregnant. Being the health educator that I am, I have already done all three.

The quiz is pretty cool, it is really obvious what answer you should chose, but I recommend answering honestly, even if your answer isn’t necessarily the best choice, because you can learn a lot from the answer you pick.

The Block Party Game is awesome! The block games are challenging and I found myself really getting into them by the end.

And National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy or not, I love the show 16 and Pregnant. Some people think that somehow it encourages teen pregnancy but I think that it show teens the reality of how hard it is be young and pregnant.

And lastly, I made a list of five ways in which my life would change if I got pregnant. Have you really ever thought about how much your life would change if you got pregnant? Take a minute to think about it. Here the five things I came up with:

  1. I would no longer be able to afford to move out of my parent’s house.
  2. I would not be able to go out with friends in the same way I do now.
  3. I would no longer be able to get a French bulldog puppy.
  4. I could kiss the idea of a vacation after finishing school goodbye.
  5. The moments I have to myself to read, cook, or take naps would be far and few between compared to how abundant they are now.

Getting pregnant could change your life in an infinite number of ways. Sometimes the decision not to use a condom one night could lead to a bigger life change than you ever imagined. Use this day to reflect on how a pregnancy would affect your life and make your future decisions about sex accordingly.

And if, or when, you make the decision that you are ready to have sex, there are a lot of ways you can prevent pregnancy.