Dear Queenie,
My boyfriend wants me to have sex with him but he says he’ll wait till I’m ready. Well, I’m ready, but I don’t know what to tell my mother. I always tell her everything and if I try to keep a secret from her she can always tell and keeps after me until I tell her.
Queenie, what should I do? I’m 15.—Another teenager in love
Dear Another teenager in love,
If you don’t know what to tell your mother, you’re probably not really ready to have sex. If you were mature enough to have sex, you wouldn’t have a problem with talking to your mother about it.
The best thing you can do at this point is tell your boyfriend you want to wait a while longer. No one has ever written to me saying she was sorry she waited to have sex, but I have had plenty of letters from girls who didn’t wait and wished they had.
Meanwhile, ask your mother about safe sex, if she hasn’t already had that talk with you. If you don’t feel comfortable asking her or if she can’t answer your questions, check out the American Social Health Association’s special Website for teenagers www.iwannaknow.org .