Cynical? No, just practical. When you have to drive your daughter 5 hours to the closest abortion clinic you will remember me.
He who makes the money should be the boss... You tell me why kids need to be treated as equal adults, and I get you the Nobel peace prize...
A story about kids' privacy. You might recall a high school massacre at Columbine. All the stupid parents had to do is check the kids room occasionally, there were real grenades under the boys' beds, and ammo and such. A few kids would be still alive today, had the parents done their job, what is PARENTING.
Maybe Sarah Palin's daughter should be paid more than the 30K dollars per speech about teen pregnancy, because apparently some kids aren't getting the picture...
Why kids need to be treated as adults is simple - at the teenage level, they are, physically, becoming adults. However, our society has watered things down to the level that you aren't supposed to be considered an "adult" until some arbitrary age number (in most places, 16-18) and even then some things are forbidden until 21+... it's entirely foolish to think that EVERY person matures the same.
They WILL have sexual desires, sometimes as young as 13/14... they WILL feel the call to be "intimate" with someone they like (and at that age, may or may not love, again comes down to maturity). Forbidding them to explore ANY of that is downright foolhardy. They need to experience those feelings - remember, not all that long ago, the average lifespan was, what, 40 or so years? Girls gave birth by the mid-teens, raised children, and generally were "adults" by that time, all as part of the natural process. The human body wasn't really designed to be having kids its entire life... after a certain point, the reproductive cycle greatly slows. Even now, physically speaking, the early to mid twenties are the best childbearing years as the body is best able to recuperate from the stresses of carrying a life inside.
It is, simply put, our SOCIETY that has made sexuality taboo... now, I'm not saying a 16 year old should go out and have kids, but at the same time they are GOING to have those urges - attempting to simple squash said urges is... well, for most it is outright impossible - want a life of celibacy, go join a group of monks.
Hence, my idea is to let the kid know, hey, it is your choice. Be smart, don't do anything you will regret later. My wife and I, before we got married, dated for about a year (yes, only a year). During that time, I would routinely sneak home from my college dorm to sleep with her. Yes, we fooled around, yes, we had fun... but we never had sex, nor did we feel that crushing desire to do so - we showed our intimacy other, safer ways.
:shrug:
To each their own - I know I'm not likely to change your mind on this, but at the same time I KNOW, without a doubt, that the policy of total abstinence is bullshit and does not work. They WILL dabble, they WILL experiment, and they WILL do it behind your back if you forbid them to be close... let them know there are things they can do to experience that intimacy without having sex and chances are, they can keep themselves in line WITHOUT the need to come barging into their room every five minutes.
I think you are the one who is more likely to end up with a pregnant daughter, because if your daughter wants to have sex, she's probably going to have it. Forbidding her from doing it and disregarding her privacy isn't going to stop her, it's just going to lower the likelihood of her having it safely when she does (in all likelihood) have it. Kittamaru's daughter will probably also have sex, but she'll be more likely to be safe about it.
That is the hope my wife and I have - granted, we do not have children as of yet (we realize we aren't yet ready, financially or otherwise) to have children just yet... another year and that will hopefully change as we will both be out of school and, with a little luck, in careers, not just jobs. However, we both have seen both sides of the childraising spectrum... and I think we are ready to strike that happy medium between being the heavy-handed controller and the laissez faire "not involved" parents... that zone where our kids KNOW they can come to us with anything and not be condemned for it.