Is teen pregnancy really a bad thing?
Here's a fascinating article titled, "Let's Have More Teen Pregnancy" which argues that teen pregnancy is not in itself a problem. REad the article to see why.
I'd love to see some discussion on the ideas presented there. Do you agree, disagree, or have thoughts to add?
[Edited to say, Oops! I intended to put the teen pregnancy post on the discussion blog over at Embracing the Risk and accidentally posted here instead. That's what I get for not paying attention. If you would like to join in the discussion, please feel free to add your comments over there.
For those few people who get my blog over e-mail and do not have internet access to read the link I posted, I e-mailed a copy of the article to them so they could see what I was talking about.]
I'd love to see some discussion on the ideas presented there. Do you agree, disagree, or have thoughts to add?
[Edited to say, Oops! I intended to put the teen pregnancy post on the discussion blog over at Embracing the Risk and accidentally posted here instead. That's what I get for not paying attention. If you would like to join in the discussion, please feel free to add your comments over there.
For those few people who get my blog over e-mail and do not have internet access to read the link I posted, I e-mailed a copy of the article to them so they could see what I was talking about.]
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 11:06 PM[Permanent link]
5 Comments:
Having done the married and with child at the age of 20 I disagree.
I do not want my children to settle down at such a young age. Even if my marriage had not ended in divorce I would still feel that way. My best friend got married a month after me. They are happily married and now have 2 children, but she also hopes that her children wait. I think you miss out on too much by startting out so young.
In addition to missing out on certain experiences, you change so much throughout those young years. The person you would have died to be with at 19 might not be the person you want when you grow up. Even someone who is mature for their age cannot have the knowledge that will if they waited even to 25 to start a family.
And though physically ready at 18 to safely bear children, it's being increasingly shown that our brains are not fully formed until age 25. Before that, it's much harder to control impulsivity. Which can lead to a greater risk of child abuse, esp. shaken baby syndrome.
But the impulsivity effect can be reduced if there is a full-support system in place including multi-generational raising of the children. In America, that's not the norm.
I know a lot of people who have had kids young--I was 22 or 23 when I had my first, and thought of that as "older" for starting out child-rearing. I think I would have been fine getting married and having a child a bit younger than I did.
I think it can go either way--depending on the people and the situation, being younger when starting a family can be a good thing or a difficult thing. Being older when starting out carries its own challenges and benefits, too.
What I really wish we had was more support and involvement from family and friends in our culture, like what Liz describes.
I didn't mean it couldn't be done, and done well, just that it's harder.
Im a single teen mom, I am only 17 and I have a lovely daughter,
My pregnancy was the result of a rape.
Sorry Im not going to marry the asshole who did that to me. Personally i think Single parents are just as good a married parents.
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