High Life : A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Homework Takes on New Life : Conference: Good Beginnings workshops give teen parents and parents-to-be valuable tools and skills to help them with their daily lives.

For many of the 400 pregnant and parenting teen-agers attending the recent Good Beginnings conference at the Pan Pacific Hotel, the day turned out to offer much more than a succession of formal seminars.

Belen Zaragoza, 17, who has a 15-month-old daughter, said the conference gave her a chance to learn about male and female feelings.

“You need communication, love and understanding with your family for a good relationship,” said Zaragoza, who attends Horizon High School--a school for pregnant girls--in Santa Ana.

A veteran of last year’s conference, Zaragoza said she returned because she learned so much the first time around. “I read and kept all the papers they gave me and the books that show how to take care of kids,” she said.

Good Beginnings, sponsored by the Adolescent Pregnancy Childwatch Coalition--a project of the Junior League of Orange County and the Orange County Private Industry Council--is designed to educate teen-agers on the responsibilities of being sexually active and being young parents.

“Sex education needs to be discussed between children and parents before the age of 18,” said Kathleen Goldberg, chairwoman of the coalition. “Parents need to be concerned about this at age 10.”

Experts estimate that half of the 15-to-19-year-olds in the United States are sexually active, and one-fifth of 13-and 14-year-olds are believed to have already had sex. Yet, just three in 10 sexually active U.S. teen-agers use birth control, resulting in 1 million teen pregnancies each year.

Goldberg stressed that the conference deals not only with birth control, but also with protection from sexually transmitted diseases. “We’re not talking about just changing a life anymore,” she said. “We’re talking about ending a life. . . . The same activity that leads to pregnancy leads to AIDS.”

At Good Beginnings, teens participated in give-and-take workshops related to such topics as relationships, safe sex and self-esteem. During breaks and at lunch, they talked among themselves, sharing such concerns as reactions of their parents, being parents themselves, single parenting and early marriage.

Monica Rodriguez, 18, of Tustin was pregnant when she attended last year’s conference. Returning this year, she learned some valuable information that helped her raise her 9-month-old son, Jason, Rodriguez said.

“I really learned a lot about things, like (children’s) nutrition, and used it,” she said.

Jason Lozano, Rodriguez’s 18-year-old boyfriend and her son’s father, also attended the conference for a second year. He said volunteers in the workshops had much good information, and “it’s easier to talk to people here, because they listen and are here to answer your questions.”

Rodriguez and Lozano said they took information home from last year’s conference to share with their friends and family members with children. They intend to do the same this year.

Besides workshops, teens could attend two educational plays: Stop-Gap, a socio-drama group, presented a mini-play about three generations of a family living under one roof, and the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program offered “Secrets,” a play about AIDS.

Iris Munoz, an 18-year-old mother of a 3-month-old daughter, said she enjoyed the Stop-Gap production because it hit close to home. “It helps you work out your problems at home and show you that you’re not alone,” said Munoz, who lives in Garden Grove.

Munoz said watching the characters solve their problems on stage inspired her to go home and talk her problems out with her parents.

Tina Pacheco, a 17-year-old mother from Westminster, said she liked the plays because they helped to make her situation more tolerable. Pointing to her 1-month-old son, she said, “I see that people have worse problems than this.”

Pacheco, who also attended a seminar on sexual and physical abuse, said, “I learned that I am scared for (my son) that he could be abused. But boys can abuse (me) too.”

Teens could choose from three out of nine workshops on sex education, independent living skills, self-esteem, child safety and discipline, prenatal care, legal rights, sexual abuse and parenting skill. Three workshops were offered in Spanish.

Kayci Spicer, a 17-year-old mother from Garden Grove, said she learned about child support at last year’s conference and has since been able to get help for her 2-year-old daughter.

Goldberg said another goal of the conference was to put girls in touch with agencies that can help them through this difficult time in their lives and avoid a second pregnancy.

She said teens who make decisions to have sex should find out for themselves just what they’re getting into.

“Think about it. All it takes is knowledge,” Goldberg said. “It should be a decision you make, it shouldn’t just happen.”