I’m inundated with daily email from teens who are utterly clueless about dating. Some typical questions:

• Can you get pregnant from oral sex?
• Can drinking alcohol make a guy’s sperm not able to make a girl pregnant?
• Can having sex give you more curves and bigger breasts?

The U.S. and the UK have the highest rates of teen pregnancy amongst western industrialized nations. Nothing to be proud of. And the number of those pregnancies in the US is up after a 10 year decline. Likewise, STD rates amongst teens is skyrocketing, especially HPV (human papillomavirus). One recent study found that 4 out of 5 sexually active teen girls infected with HPV!

Abstinence Only Sex Education programs, which received $1.3 billion in federal funding during the Bush years, owe us all a refund. This isn’t and never has been “education” nor does it prepare kids to make informed choices about their sexual behavior. So they make uninformed choices often and repeatedly.

Before you ground your teens for life, please note that everyone is not doing it. In fact, American teens are now waiting longer to have their first sexual intercourse. By age 15 only 13% of teens have had sex. Sounds encouraging, except that many of those under 15 who aren’t having intercourse are definitely messing around. (I’ll get to that in a minute.) Amongst 15-19 year olds nearly half (46%) have had sexual intercourse at least once. While it’s great that some teens are waiting longer, I’m not thrilled at the idea of 15 and 16 year olds having sex. Many girls are very conflicted about it but they believe it’s necessary to get and keep a boyfriend. (Wonder where they get that idea?)

Another problem is that many 11-14 year olds simply don’t know the definition of sex. Plenty of middle school students consider oral sex to be “like no big deal.” Last week I got an email from a 14-year-old who was “committed to remaining a virgin” but was considering “doing it from the rear” because her boyfriend wanted to “try something new” and she didn’t think that anal sex was… well, you know, actually sex.

Girls must understand unequivocally that saying no is their right. Too many girls don’t feel good about turning a guy down because they don’t want to be “mean.” Guys need to know that sexual contact with a girl is not their right. Healthy relationships are based on 2-way trust, respect, honesty and open-communication. Moms and dads need to bring home these points to their sons and their daughters.

Here are some questions for you to think about (and resolve) before you begin a new kind of conversation with your tweens and teens about dating and sex.

1. What’s your personal attitude about teen dating? Teen sex? Is it different for your daughters than it is for your sons?
2. If you’re raising kids with someone, are you and your partner on the same page with these attitudes?
3. What have you learned about relationships from your time as a teen that you can comfortably share with your child?
4. What kind of social/sexual behavior do you expect from your daughter/son?
5. Have you made your behavioral expectations crystal clear?
6. In what ways are you doing a great job letting your kids know that they can always come to you with questions/concerns (about their body, about sexual feelings, about the pressure to have a boyfriend/girlfriend and to “do stuff”).
7. In what ways could you do a better job in the communication/information and listening arena?