We keep hearing about teen pregnancy issues. With the television show "Secret Life of the American Teenager," the new upcoming movie January 23, 2010 on Lifetime Television called “The Pregnancy Pact” and Barbara Delinsky's newly released book called "Not My Daughter." Each of the aforementioned deal with teen pregnancy and the problems faced, not only for the teen, but the family as well. There is much concern over our teenagers exploring their sexuality and becoming pregnant when they are way too young. Is there anything that parents can do to prevent this?

Many schools in their health programs do try to go over some of the risks that are taken by exploring sexuality, such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, but is this enough? What can parents also do, as many teenagers are not going to listen to these things in school? They have a tendency to find these topics to be funny and not something that they are serious about, with their friends around. Schools cannot be totally responsible for teaching our children all there is to know about teen pregnancy. It is the job of the parent to make sure that their children know the risks and dangers of being sexually active.

What can you do for your teenager? Make sure that when you have these kinds of discussions with your teenager that you are picking an appropriate time to do this. Do not pull your teen from their studies, favorite show or anything that will prevent them from having their full focus on you. At the end of the day when they are tired and stressed from school, is also not a good time to approach this topic. This is a very serious topic and timing is definitely important.

One of the best ways you could do this would be to make a special time together to have their full attention and communication. Make sure cell phones and ipods are left home, or if you are home not near your teen. Be open to hear whatever your teen may share with you insofar as their knowledge of these topics. You may be surprised to hear they know more than you think. Let them know they can talk to you and you will answer their questions honestly. You have their best interests at heart and do not want to see them make a mistake and wind up pregnant, or having gotten a girl pregnant long before they can handle the responsibilities of this choice. Open communication is a key to keeping your teen out of trouble.

Ideally everyone would love for their teenagers to wait until they are married to be in a sexual relationship, but statistics as stated on The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy show us a much different picture:

Three in 10 girls in the U.S. get pregnant at least once by the age of 20.

Six in 10 teens that have had sex say that they wish they had waited.

Half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned — about 3 million each year.

One out of 10 children in the United States is born to a teen mother.