Spring Flings?

Spring is approaching and with it, renewed energy. Dormant plants shoot up and produce brilliantly-colored flowers. Bees buzz about frantically pollinating and helping plants produce fruit. Insects, birds, and animals start families that will come to fruition in upcoming weeks and months, and then there’s teenagers.

By second semester, Freshmen have learned their place in the high school society. They’ve made friends, they know where all the classrooms are, they have an idea of how hard they have to work to get acceptable grades and how much free time that leaves them to horse around. Although some Freshmen will already have experimented sexually, the first year in high school can be the time when some kids will have their first more serious boyfriend or girlfriend, and may lose their virginity.

Sophomores have it all under control

They have a year beneath their belts and are closing in on a second completed year of high school. They have engaged in the clubs and organizations that interest them, they have made some lasting friends, and they really have a sense of who is all attending their school. If they had their eyes on someone who got away from them last year, they may be pretty invested in not letting that happen again. If hesitancy to be sexually active was a factor, there’s a good chance they won’t let that hold them back if they get a second chance at “the one that got away.”

Juniors are totally in the groove

They can probably do a lot of their work in their sleep. They have figured out how to balance school, home, social, and work obligations, and they often have serious, serious relationships, and I mean, serious. I’m talking the kind that last for over six months. For kids that age, that seems like a lifetime. There is much talk of love and of having found their perfect match, and of being together forever. If they’re not already having sex regularly, they at least believe they’re ready to or are thinking about it. They may be planning “just the right time” for it to happen.

Seniors are poised on the edge

They are almost out the door, but they still have a long way to go. As much as they can’t wait to experience all the joy and excitement that adulthood has to offer, they are just as scared to take on all the responsibilities and uncertainty that adulthood carries with it. Kids that have maintained serious relationships over the summer and have passed one-year anniversaries are tossing around the idea of marriage or having kids or both. Some avail themselves of birth control and some do not. Some end up pregnant and some do not. Some terminate the pregnancies and others do not. The future of two youngsters can change in the blink of an eye. We tend to focus primarily on the girl, but a young man involved in a pregnancy has difficult decisions and consequences as well.

A comedian observed that alcohol bottles contain warning for pregnant women and remarked that if it weren’t for alcohol, a lot of women wouldn’t be pregnant in the first place. This is so true for teens. Alcohol greatly reduces inhibitions, allowing people to do lots of things they would not do under more sober conditions. In addition to the health risks of alcohol, don’t overlook the sexual risks of alcohol for your teenagers this spring.