OUR VIEW: Time for ‘the talk’ in wake of STD rise in state

• OUR VIEW

OUR VIEW

Talk about it

It’s not our job to suggest intricate and detailed parenting advice. Those types of things are best left for inside the home, for parents to decide on their own.

Yet as we read that sexually transmitted diseases are rising in Davison County and throughout South Dakota, we cannot help but suggest to parents the one thing that many tend to dread: The talk.

Are the rules within your household to refrain from all premarital sex? Or is it more of an educationbased set of guidelines that a teen should strive to follow?

No matter. As STDs rise in the region, kids today need to be informed of the many woes that await poor choices.

The Daily Republic on Saturday reported that chlamydia, gonorrhea, HIV/AIDS and syphilis are well above their five-year median averages, according to the state Department of Health. This is causing concern among health officials, and rightly so.

To avoid STDs, the Department of Health offers these tips:

• Abstain from sexual contact or limit contact to relationships that are mutually monogamous.

• Limit the number of partners.

• Use a condom.

• Visit a doctor if there is any reason to believe you have an infection.

We aren’t here to preach one way over the other, nor do we ask anyone to change their beliefs in the wake of South Dakota’s STD rise.

We agree that abstinence is the absolute most effective method to stop the spread of STDs, but we know that is an idealistic and sometimes unrealistic approach.

Whatever a family believes, now might be a good time to have the talk.

Tags: sexually transmitted diseases, opinion, updates, editorials, health, stds