By the time your son is 15 years old, he has completed puberty, he is well established in high school, and now you are ready to look to his future.

I know how important it is to make sure he knows his options in terms of career or college choices, but I would encourage you to prepare him in another very important way. It is time for his to be informed and understand how to protect himself from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). 

Most high school students receive some education on this topic, but I am not sure how much understanding they walk away with. Here are some key points.

• Does your son realize that many people infected with an STD do not have symptoms.

• Even without symptoms, he can still pass the STD on to another person.

• About one in four sexually active adolescent boys (15-24 years) have a sexually transmitted infection.

• There are different sexual ways in which you can get an STD.

• Does he know the difference between a viral sexually transmitted infection and a bacterial infection?

• Does he know which type of sexually transmitted infection can be cured and which ones cannot.

• Does he know how to protect himself from getting a sexually transmitted infection?

We want to make sure your son understands all of these important points. He is probably not going to want you to sit him down and have a big talk about it. That is why I wrote a simple download that covers these important points that you can give to him. If he chooses to read it, that is up to him. Hopefully, without a lot of pressure, he will make that choice.

There are so many ways we want to protect our maturing son from danger. This is certainly an important one.