This piece is cross-posted from SexReally.com.

Alma Powell, a well-known advocate for youth, opened a grand dinner at the Newseum this week, the U.S. Capitol illuminated behind her, by asking a simple question: "And how are the children?"

It was an appropriate salutation, delivered to reporters about to receive awards for writing and broadcasting about disadvantaged children and families.

Powell explained that the greeting is used by Masai warriors in Africa as they pass each other on the road. It is their version of "How are you?" --a reminder that an individual is only as good as her or his child, a community only as good as its children.

It occurred to me that night that those who counsel teens and 20-somethings about sex and contraception are trying to convey something similar. One argument they make for using contraception consistently goes something like this: "Think about the baby you might have if you don't. What kind of a life will she or he have?"

So, not how are the children, but how will they be?

Some scary things to consider this Halloween:

• The teen birth rate is on the rise after 15 straight years of decline.
• Fully seven in ten pregnancies among single 20-somethings are unplanned.
• More than half of pregnancies reported by unmarried men in their 20s are unplanned.
• Rosie O'Donnell is launching a new radio show.
• The magic less sex/more contraception formula that drove down the teen pregnancy rate over the past decade plus now seems to have morphed into a more sex/less contraception formula.
• 3 in ten girls in the United States get pregnant by age 20.
• Mariah Carey continues to record and release music.

What are some things that are scaring you? Let us know.

"Cohabitation is no place for children" writes nationally-syndicated columnist Michael Gerson.

In a piece that appeared yesterday in the Washington Post, Gerson makes the case that Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, and others have made. Namely, children do best in two-parent, stable, married families. For Gerson, Wilcox, and many others, they would underscore the married part.

Let's take his argument in bites.

• Being a 20-something at present is different in important ways from previous decades.
• Two markers of this change are earlier sexual activity and later age of marriage.
• In the absence of what Brad Wilcox calls the traditional "courtship narrative"--dating, marriage, children--many young people have adopted a different life choice: cohabitation.
• Gerson concedes that the link between sex and marriage is a thing of the past. However, he believes that the connection between marriage and having children remains absolutely essential.

A gross oversimplification to be sure, but you get the point. Gerson also notes:

• Marriage is "the most effective institution to bind two parents for a long period in the common enterprise of marriage."
• Age of marriage matters too---Gerson calls the early to mid-20s the "marital sweet spot" for marital longevity and happiness.
• Citing research by Wilcox, Gerson says "serial cohabitation trains people for divorce...cohabitation by engaged couples seems to have no adverse effect on eventual marriage."

That's a lot to chew on. We are anxious to hear what you think. Put you comment shoes on and get busy.

Don't miss the season premiere of the hit ABC Family original series "Greek" on Monday at 9pm/8c. It's a look at the lives and relationships of college kids - funny, dramatic, and full of great characters. The National Campaign is working with the show, so look around their website and stay tuned for a PSA later this season.

Need to catch up before the premiere? Watch the Cram Session videos and relive the previous seasons of "Greek."

There's been a bit of online chatter recently about ditching hormonal birth control in favor of a return to the more "organic" methods of birth control known as either Fertility Awareness Methods (FAM) or Natural Family Planning (NFP).

Sophie Morris writes a review of Jane Bennett & Alexandra Pope's book, The Pill: Are You Sure It's For You?, in which the authors question why women would use a less-than-perfect method when there are so many potential side effects. Based on her own experience with the pill, Ms. Morris agrees with Bennett and Pope that women should stop viewing it as "the default contraceptive," but she disagrees with them about the best alternative. While they encourage women to return to NFP, Morris feels as though "that remains risky business...if you can't deal with an unplanned pregnancy."  She hasn't figured out the best method for her, but knows there are options more effective than NFP.

Over on double x, in an article titled, Your Grandmother's Birth Control Might Actually Work, Nona Willis Aronowitz explains how she moved to FAMs after experiencing side effects while using the NuvaRing.  Before discovering FAM, she dismissed condoms due to her partner's aversion.  She said no to the diaphragm on account of a history of urinary tract infections. And she brushed off the thought of the oh-so-effective IUD because she didn't like the idea of "an invasive vaginal procedure." Ms. Willis Aronowitz settled on using the most effective FAM, known as the symptothermal method. This includes understanding when she's most fertile (and avoiding intercourse without a barrier method during those times) by measuring her basal body temperature and monitoring the consistency of her cervical mucous on a daily basis, and then charting the data.