Home
Advertise with
Safer Child
Search

Donations

Abductions

Abuse/Neglect

ADD/ADHD

Adoption

Advertisements

Advocacy & Statistics

Biotech in Food

Breastfeeding

Bullying

Car Safety Seats

Consumer Issues

Crisis Pregnancy

Communication

Daycare/Babysitters

Dehydration

Dental/Oral Care

Discipline

Divorce Issues

Domestic Violence

Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco

Ear Infections

Eating Disorders

Education

Exceptional Children

Expert Voices

Families in Crisis

Finance

First Aid/ CPR/Poison

Foster Care/ Adoption

General Guidance

General Safety

Grief

Guns & Kids

Health

Homelessness

Idaho

Immunizations

International Aid

Internet Safety

Just for Fun

Literacy

Media & Kids

Medical

Mental Distress

Morality & Ethics

New on the Site

New Parents

Nutrition & Diet

Parents in Uniform

Parents of Teens

Poison Control

Pollution/Conservation

Postpartum Depression

Personal Attacks

Runaways

Safety

Seasonal

Self-Assessment

Sex Offenders

Sexuality & Kids

SIDS

Sleep Issues

Sports Safety

Substance Abuse

Suicide Prevention

Support for Parents

Teach your Child

Teenagers

Terrorism

Toilet Training

Transportation

Traveling

Violence & Kids

Washington State

Working Parents

 

 

Responding to Dating Pressure

Here are a few suggestions for how to respond when someone is pressuring you or your teen to have sex. We believe that a young person who's thought through possible situations like these is much more likely to respond appropriately if one of the situations occurs. Do you have more suggestions for us? Please tell us!

When Your Partner Says:

You Can Say:

Everybody's doing it.

  You're wrong. Not everyone is doing it. But it doesn't matter to me what everybody else is doing.

But we love each other, and when people love each other, sex is just natural.

  We might love each other, but I'm not ready to make sex a part of our relationship.

If you really loved me, you'd make love with me.

  If you really loved me, you wouldn't pressure me to have sex when I'm not ready.

Having sex with me will make you a woman (or man).   Having sex isn't what makes a person mature. Mature is being able to make good decisions.
You asked for it.   If your feeling is that I misled you, I apologize. But it's still my right to say I'm not ready, and that's what I'm saying.

You don't trust me.

  You don't seem to respect me and my wishes. And if you insist on pressuring me, it makes it hard for me to trust you.

I need to have sex.   There are ways you can relieve discomfort -- but that's your responsibility, not mine.

I guess I'll have to find someone else who will give me what I need.

  I'm sorry, but if that's the way you feel, we don't need to be together anymore.

Are you weird or homosexual or something?

  No, but I am special, and you should respect how I feel.

Nobody waits until they get married.

  That isn't true. Lots of people wait. But it doesn't matter what others do. I want to wait.

We've been going together for a long time.

  And I'm happy about that. But a long-term relationship doesn't automatically mean we need to have sex with each other.

Go to Top

Home Advertisements Feedback Advocacy Search Donations

Safer Child, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with federal tax-exempt status. Please note: 1) External organizations listed herein do not necessarily endorse Safer Child positions, nor do we necessarily endorse theirs. We list them as a courtesy and aren't responsible for their accuracy, completeness or content. 2) We recommend you maintain a healthy skepticism when reviewing information on the Internet; it might appear to be reliable --  yet actually be false, misleading, incomplete, out-of-date and/or intentionally harmful. 3) There might be material on the Internet that you disagree with or find objectionable; preview all sites before viewing them with your child. 4) We are not responsible for external addresses/phone numbers changing without our knowledge. 5) The information and commentary on this site are not substitutes for professional advice from your doctor, lawyer, or mental health professional. 6) Requests for permission to republish, copy and/or distribute any material found on this Web site should be directed to Safer Child, Inc.

This Web site is supported by donated services from SISNA of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho,
and has received a grant from the Wendell P. & Barbara J. Marshall Family Trust in the Idaho Community Foundation.
Safer Child is also supported by Time4Learning.com, online education from preschool through middle school,
and LockSAF, makers of a storage device that keeps valuables safe through the use of fingerprinting technology.
 

Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Safer Child, Inc. All rights reserved.