Play Teaches Parents To Talk To Their Teens About Sex

ALBANY, NY (02/25/2010)(readMedia)-- Yajaira Dianda of Albany left Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady on Saturday, February 21, with a strong reaction to the play, Spring Awakening. "The play really captured the reality of the situation," stated Dianda. "My mom did not tell me about sex when I was younger and I had a baby at 17. The play was informative and teens should be obligated to see it!"

Spring Awakening takes place in Germany in the 1940s and explores boldly and honestly the challenges faced by a generation of teens who received little to no guidance or education from adults regarding sexuality. During the course of the play, young men and women share personal experiences and perspectives on such things as masturbation, abortion, rape, child abuse, and suicide.

Dianda and her son Hudson High School student, Lester Zaborski, 17, attended the play along with other members of the Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood S.T.A.R.S (Serious Talking About Responsible Sex), peer education group. The S.T.A.R.S. program is funded by the New York State Health Department's Community Based Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Grant. High school students are trained, under the program, to present school and community programs on sexual health and responsibility and to serve as peer educators for other teens who are seeking factual information on a wide range of issues.

The play conveys the fact that many parents living in Germany at that time felt uncomfortable discussing sex with their children and this had negative consequences, such as pregnancies at a young age due to ignorance. The play left the students feeling really grateful for their program. Although taking place decades ago, they felt strongly that the message of the play was still current.

"Parents should enlighten their children before they make mistakes," was the message Albany High School student Jeron Lee, 17, took away from the play. Brihan Ford, 16, also from Albany High, says added "don't expect me to choose the right path without direction."

Meghan Carrol, Youth Program Facilitator at Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood expresses what everyone seemed to agree upon. "The same challenges and problems still exist in many families today. Many parents still do not know how to go about talking about sex with their children. They expect children to be taught sex education at school, which does not always happen effectively. That's why programs like S.T.A.R.S. are so important. We still need to advocate for better parent-child communication and better sex education in our schools, but in the mean time, someone needs to fill the gap and provide young people with the knowledge they need to make good decisions."

As Darian Henry, 17, a student from Albany High School, stated, "I was able to relate the play to my own life. If it were not for S.T.A.R.S. program, I would be in the dark when it comes to sex ed."