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<figure id="attachment_22845" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-22845" style="width: 212px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/stories/planned-parenthood-working-to-empo…; rel="attachment wp-att-22845"><img loading="lazy" class=" wp-image-22845 " alt="Rafaela Frausto" src="http://laprensa-sandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Rafaela-Frausto…; width="212" height="240" srcset="https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Rafaela… 265w, https://dev-laprensa.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Rafaela… 266w" sizes="(max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px"></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-22845" class="wp-caption-text">Rafaela Frausto</figcaption></figure>
<p>My mom said to us, “If you got pregnant, your butt would be to work.”</p>
<p>I was in the 6th grade at the time, watching an Oprah episode about pregnant teens with my mom and two sisters. In what one might call a “teachable moment,” instead of continuing the conversation, my mom was only adamant that I go to work to support myself if I ever became a teenage mom.</p>
<p>When I was 18 I became pregnant. It was the August after my high school graduation.</p>
<p>As you might have guessed, I couldn’t tell my mom. I decided to take a three-month trip to visit family in Baja instead. It wasn’t until December when my boyfriend pressured me to tell her that I finally did.</p>
<p>She was most upset she would become a grandmother at the young age of 41.</p>
<p>When my son Ramiro was three months old, I took a three-month intensive job training program five days a week, eight hours a day, during which I was also working in telemarketing at night. During these months, I saw my baby for about 15 minutes a day while driving between school, work and my mother-in-law’s house.</p>
<p>I eventually landed a position at a Planned Parenthood health center, and then moved on to the public affairs department where I have been working for over a decade.</p>
<p>Attending a recent Planned Parenthood presentation on “How to Talk to Your Teen about Sex,” I realize that though I had heard much of the information before, I still have a tough time talking to Ramiro (now 15) about sex. My mother’s cultural and family background made it difficult for her to talk to me about it, and now I was suffering from the same block.</p>
<p>How am I to respond when he expresses curiosity about girls? How could I not be shocked by my own son’s emerging sexuality?</p>
<p>How do I let him know he can talk to me about sex?</p>
<p>It helps to discuss these difficult questions with others with similar challenges. Programs like the Planned Parenthood parenting workshops allow parents to talk and exchange ideas; other parents may have tried approaches I haven’t, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Though “the talk” should in fact be a lifelong conversation with your children, it is never too late to learn ways to build trust between parent and child. By volunteering in my two sons’ activities, I hope to stay involved in all aspects of their lives, and hope they know they can come talk to me about anything, including sex.</p>
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