By Jennifer Marino
An in-your-face program on teen sex will be held at South Side Middle School on Wednesday, April 21. The program, Risky Business, will feature 12-year-old girls candidly discussing their sex lives and a breakdown of graphic music lyrics popular with today-s teens. The Drug and Alcohol Task Force, along with the school district and the PTA Council are sponsored the program in Rockville Centre.
Jamie E. Bogenshutz, executive director of YES Counseling Center, developed the program with the Massapequa School District. The parents-only event will feature video from an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show and an HBO program called Middle School Confessions. The parents will be divided into small groups to watch and discuss the video clips with help from facilitators. The event will conclude with more discussion in a large group, and parents will have a chance to listen to the lyrics of the music their kids are probably listening to.
The goal of the evening is to help parents help kids get through turbulent times, said Bogenshutz. The issues discussed are ones that impact all young people, according to Bogenshutz. A flier for the program quotes a statistic from Seventeen magazine, stating that 51 percent of children ages 11 to 17 are sexually active.
Two Rockville Centre parents, Rose Foley and Rita DiBattista, participated in the program in Plainedge to see what it was like. Good reports from them as well as the Plainedge superintendent helped the Drug and Alcohol Task Force decide to bring the program to Rockville Centre parents, said Eileen Kamhi, assistant superintendent and a member of the task force.
The video shown to parents was viewed at a recent task force meeting. It features children as young as 11 openly discussing their sexual activities and their attitudes about sex. Often the sexual activity is accompanied by drug and/or alcohol abuse and low self-esteem. Bogenshutz says she hopes the event will empower parents to be parents.
The more they know, the better they can protect their kids, she said, adding that many parents are not fully aware of the cultural influences impacting kids- decisions. Shocked is an understatement, she said about parents- reactions when they hear the lyrics of popular songs their children listen to. The words are sexually graphic and often demeaning, Bogenshutz said.
Parents also receive a packet of information that includes ideas about how to talk about sex with their kids, and local resources, such as the Confide Counseling Center, will also be on hand.
Risky Business will take place on April 21 in the auditorium at South Side Middle School, 67 Hillside Ave., from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
