Sexual promiscuity in teens is characterized by or involving indiscriminate mingling or association, especially having sexual relations with a number of partners on a casual basis. Sex can become an outlet for a struggling teen’s frustration or the teen might believe that having sex is a demonstration of their partner’s love for them or their love for their partner. Promiscuous sex can be used to punish parents whom the teen believes is trying to control their life or prevent them from transitioning into adulthood. “Allowing a young person to continue to see sex in such an emotional immature and self-destructive manner can lead to an abortion of your child’s future.”
Many teens who are sexually promiscuous put themselves at risk for teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and low self-esteem (especially in girls) and little or no emotional health. Sexual promiscuity might seem like a norm or they might encounter peer pressure and forced to participate because their friends are doing it. Some of the signs that your teenage girl might be sexually active are:
- The girls is secretive about activities with boyfriend
- They become suddenly interested in washing their own clothes
- They have condoms or other forms of birth control in their possession
- Recurring bladder infection
- Pain in the lower abdomen
- Sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s)
The National Youth Risk Behavior Survey about sexual promiscuity published in 2009 found that:
- 45.7% of female and 46.1% of male high school students have had sexual intercourse
- Amongst the females 29% of 9th graders, 39% of 10th graders, 52% of 11th graders and an alarming 65% of 12th graders had sex.
- Of the 11th graders 12.9% said they had sexual intercourse with four or more persons and of the 12th graders, 19% said they had sexual intercourse with four or more persons.
- 46% of females surveyed did not use a condom in their last sexual encounter.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 25% of sexually active teenagers get a sexually transmitted disease (STD) every year, and 80% of infected teens don’t even know they have an STD, passing the diseases along to unsuspecting partners.
Keith Deltano in his book “Making Virginity Possible” says your teenager may go to war when you start modifying her behavior and having input on the creation of her ideas about sex. You are the parent; you have the right to set limits and control behavior; it’s time to give up peace and enter into the short-term war for the long-term good of your child. According to Deltano, girls that do not feel loved or ‘deemed worthy’ by their fathers are two and one half times more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. Girls who have a distant or no relationship with their father are two and one half times more likely to experience a teen pregnancy.
At the Columbus Girls Academy we help our girls move from sexual promiscuity to purity. We help them feel loved and confident of who they are in Christ; we instill in them a Christian Sexual Worldview. We teach parents how to affirm and assure their child of their unconditional love and as a result the teen girl is more confident of what love is and means and knows that they do not have to perform sexually to be worthy of love.
We help our teen girls and their parents understand that they need to control the devices and the content that comes through the devices that they use. Deltano puts it this way:
“Movies need theaters, disc players and T.Vs, chat rooms and internet pornography need computers, internet connections and monitors. Music needs TV, radio, CD players, Ipods, computers and internet. Sexual imagery needs a magazine, book or screen to be presented on. When the teen girl and her parents learn to control the devices they learn to control the messages. You can’t take on teen targeted media. You can’t stop Madison Avenue from writing sexually manipulating material; you can stop that material from entering your home. You can’t control the creation of content but you can control your child’s access to that content.”
We teach parents how to control their teen’s access to the web and what she can see when she gains that access. In fact, our students have individual computers in their classroom with limited access to the web. We monitor the amount of time our students spend on the internet and the websites that they go to. Why do we monitor the teen and the websites they go to? Because pornography is the most profitable web business and every minute of the day some website’s pop-ups have imageries that give your teen access to view all they want. We believe that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ changes people’s lives.
At the Columbus Girl’s Academy our mission is to “offer life-transformation to individuals through Christ-centered programs. Columbus Girl’s Academy is not a boot camp where the program is more punitive than redemptive, but rather, we help parents learn how to manage their teenage daughter by taking the necessary steps for the teen to gain control of their emotions through discipline, love and responsibility. We help parents recognize that we are as much committed to the health of their child and the health of the family. Therefore we teach our parents tough love; when parents spend thousands of dollars year after year on treatment for a child and the child continues to violate and runaway, then other solutions become necessary.
The parents are taught how to respond to the child in a healthy way; “we value you, we love you, we feel this is the best treatment for you at this time but if you will not accept the help we are offering through the Teen Challenge Columbus Girl’s Academy, you are not welcomed to come back home until you have completed Teen Challenge.
Columbus Girl’s Academy operates a very structured environment where there is a balance of academics, spirituality, hard work, fun and fellowship. We have a 200 acre property with a huge lake and boating house, a swimming pool, basketball court, softball and baseball fields and a prayer trail. Our counseling sessions are geared to help the student identify the triggers of their behavior, how to control these triggers and respond instead of react to situations. Counseling is done on a one-on-one basis. Parents are taught how to pick their battles and not argue with the teenage daughter who is constantly in a power battle with the parents. They are encouraged to give positive feedback to their child as the situation warrants and staff and students are encouraged to affirm each other. Phrases such as “please,” “thank you,” “I believe in you,” “I am proud of you” are constantly part of the vocabulary here at Columbus Girl’s Academy.
Our residential program is administered by qualified staff who work twenty four hours each day to promote and support the emotional well being of every student. We offer accredited classroom work where students are able to graduate with their high school diploma or have their credits transferred back to their school. The Teen Challenge Columbus Girl’s Academy has a balanced combination of academics, spirituality, athletics, therapy, social and life skills.
