Can teens make good parents? There is a rise in teenage pregnancy; they have even made a show called "16 & Pregnant" to try to show teens how hard it is having children. How can they pay for it, do they know what kind of life they are getting into, are they emotionally ready, what is this going to do for their future?
I'm a teen mom; I had my daughter when I was 18. Only 2% of teenage mothers get a 2 year degree, 11% of mothers in the United States are teenagers, 82% are accidental, a child of a teen mom is more likely to be a teen mom themselves.
Are teenagers ready for the responsibility of raising a child? If you think they are not, what can be done to decrease the number of teenage pregnancies?
Sarah Albin
I'm a teen mom; I had my daughter when I was 18. Only 2% of teenage mothers get a 2 year degree, 11% of mothers in the United States are teenagers, 82% are accidental, a child of a teen mom is more likely to be a teen mom themselves.
Are teenagers ready for the responsibility of raising a child? If you think they are not, what can be done to decrease the number of teenage pregnancies?
Sarah Albin
23 comments:
yes, i think there are some teenages that would make a good mother. but some teens are just not ready for kids and they seen to get there self in that postion. i have alot of friends that has had babies when we were 17 years old and they make good parents. i dont think the girls have any choice but to be ready to start parenting, becasue weather they want to or not when the time comes they have to be ready and take care of their child.it could be hard sometimes for teen moms but i think if they were to give up there babies or get an abortion they would end up pregnant all over again. trust me i have seen it happened alot. my friends would get abortions and then be pregnant again months later.
ASHIA STEVENS
I think that schools need to educate teens more on the subject of teen pregnancy. Parents need to be more open with their teens about sex and teen pregnancy. Having a baby will change your life at any age.If parents are more open with their kids about sex,and if they know that they are having sex then help them protect themselves from pregnancy.We need to not just educate girls but boys also. I think the blame is always placed on the teen girl...the teen boy was there too...it takes 2 to make a baby! Dawn Smith
You can't make the statement that because someone is a teenager that they will make a terrible parent, because that is not true. It is just hard for a person to have a child at that moment in their life, being still in school with no job, just living off their parents. I do not believe that teens are ready to handle the responsibility of having a child. First of all, if you have sex and accidentally become pregnant then that mistake right there shows that you are not a responsible person and are not ready for a child. Also, it is not fair to the child of the teen parent, because the child may not grow up living the life that it should because their parent stuggled to raise him/her. I am not saying this is so for all teen pregnancies, because it is not. I know there are some people who have a child as a teen and give everything to their child, and that is how it should be.
Kenneth East
I think that schools need to improve their sex education because it is obviously not making a difference. obviously no matter what you say teenagers are going to experiment and be sexually active, we just need to teach them the reality on teen pregnancies and ways to prevent it
Kevin McBride
I don't believe that teenagers have gone through enough to understand the world and how to raise a child. Personally I have a girlfriend who has a child and she does a fine job at raising her daughter, but if it wasn't for her two roommates and friends around to help out it would be much more difficult than it is currently. Obviously teenagers lack some rationality when it comes to this (male or female) or the %'s wouldn't be so high.
Matt Funk
I think it depends on the teen. In some cultures you can be married and pregnant at the age of 16 years old some even younger. In some ways one could say that a younger mother will be able to connect with the child for she is still truthfully a child her self and even stronger if she is a mother. The gypsies from Romania is a good example of this.
One thing is for sure depending on the teens environment will affect the out come a lot. Not to mention a lot of things can affect the outcome. as you pointed out food, emotional drama, education, family; there all affected in a huge way with a kid.
Cameron Smucker
I think a teenager can make a good mother, but it will definitely be harder to provide for a child. The mother can love their child and do the best the can, but in most cases a lot of the responsibility will fall on the grandparents to take care of the child. I think a new life is a wonderful thing, but you have to be ready to take care of a baby and should wait until after you have a degree. I think it is great that a young mother would step up to the plate instead of running from the responsibility, but I still do not believe children should be taking care of other children.
teens need to be more aware of what could happen. getting pregnant is proabably a scary thing. even thinking youre pregnant is scary let alone it actually being true. teens dont have the means to have a child, they dont have the money or the freedom. they just dont have time to take care of another person and be reliable for another human being. theyre just kids and they shouldnt have any yet. i dont know one single teenager that would be a good mom and could take care of their child if they had one
I think some teenagers are ready to be a mother. On there other hand there are some teenagers that are not ready. There were a couple teenagers that got pregant in my high school and they turned out to be great moms. One is my best friend and her daught is so cute. Sometimes the pregnanceies just happen its not like the girls really mean to get pregnant. When they find out they just have to make sure they are ready to take on there life and another life. I know my friend has been through some rough times when taking care of her kid, but i think she new it was going to be hard in the first place when its just her kind of taking care of the baby.
Aubrey Welch
I don't think they are ready for this responsible. They are either still in high school or just graduated from high school and they have to take care of a baby. They would be financially challenged and if they where planning on going to college, it would make it harder to pay for medical bills or food and clothing for the baby if you have college bills to pay off. If they have a baby too young, they need to start working and paying for everything. that means they won't be able to go to college and get a better education to get a better jobs. It could mess up the whole system if they aren't careful. Girls ahould really be more careful. Even though they think it won't happen, there is a pretty good chance of it happening. It's would be a good idea to make birth control a lot cheaper or any other protection. They could make it mandatory to take a parenting class and practice with they doll that really cries so they know what it's like to be a parent while in school. This would make them think twice before getting into this situation.
Samantha Odendaal
I don't think most teenagers are ready for the responsibility of being parents. I don't think most adults are ready for it either, just maybe a bit more so than teenagers. To reduce teenage pregnancy is a complicated thing. I feel that abstinence programs are completely ludicrous for most teenagers. I think sex-ed programs may be helpful, but I have yet to see detailed studies on their efficacy.
One idea I have that may seem a little silly is that I would like to see a mandate that all pornography is performed using condoms. I'm sure many young men who are sexually active have seen porn, and I think that they would be more likely to use condoms if they associated porn with condom use. Perhaps this would reduce a few pregnancies a year.
David Nadermann
Raising children is very hard to do, no matter what age you are. But teenagers generally have less to give their children then adults do. I’ve seen so many people in my high school have kids, and most of them relay on their parents for almost everything. Teenagers don't own a house, don't have that good of a job or a father that they can depend on sticking around, teenage parents have almost everything working against them, and general speaking I don’t think they make the best parents. But I have seen a few people who have.
Melody Nelligan
Teen pregnancy has been around for a very long time and whether you are a teen or not does not distinguish your quality as a parent. That said, I would venture to say that most teenagers that end up as teen parents did not sit down and "plan" that to happen. Too often, teenagers don't think things (not just pregnancy) can happen to them and rush into all the "adult" decisions with an "adolescent" mind set. As teens we all wanted to get to DO everything we wanted, without the RESPONSIBILITY that comes with it. We didn't realize that our scope of knowledge was really only one tiny piece of a huge life-sized puzzle. Getting teens to grasp this would be huge.
For teens to become parents today they are faced with huge obstacles. Because of the breakdown of families or how widespread they are, there is not always the support network at home that may have been there in the past. With both Grandparents working to make ends meet, are they readily able to help (physically or financially)? This may make it difficult to finish high school, and limit higher education.
Although daycare may be available outside the home, who will pay for those services? Where will the teens get the funds to pay medical bills, food, clothing, shelter...? A job? That may be difficult, since now there is a child to care for, school to attend and what part time job can a teen with limited time and knowledge hold, and how much will it pay? See the problems stacking up here? The issue is not, "Can teens become parents?", it's more like "Should teens become parents?"
Joann Logsdon
From what I have seen most of the teens that are moms are not ready for motherhood. Many of them have children but have no clue about taking care of a child. They have the baby and in a week they are out with the baby at the mall. Thats not healthy for the baby or mother, both have to get adjusted and the teen mom has to take it easy so that her body can heal properly. They think they can still party and hangout as if they don't have a child that needs to be nurtured and provided for and many of them put their baby on their mother which is unfair. Its not the teens mom responsiblity to take care of the baby, the girl layed down and had the baby now she have to step up and realize that its not about her any more its all about the baby.
S.Cooper
it all depends on the person.
I know some teens that after having their baby they became a better person and took responsiblity. Sorry to say everyone isn't like that. I can't say what i think should be done becaus honestly i don't think it will ever stop, but i hope that people prove me wrong because teen pregnancies has gotten way out of hand as of today!
I feel that sex education should be taught in every school. at mu privet school they teach us abstinence. Every one should know all the choices.
Cody
I don't think teens should be a mom, i don't believe teens are ready for those responsibility. Teens should have fun a kid, enjoy life, explore, live life. Having a kid would make your life more difficult. You would have to get a job to support the child, you would fall back in school and might even drop out of school.
MOHAMMED AHMAD
Only thing I say can be done, is to keep eduacting teens about sex and pregnancy. Parents tend to frown upon their child having and don't want to face the reality that it is happen. Some kids are scared to talk to their parents about sex. Some of them are the ones who have babies on accident. Parents need to be more open with their children, and talk with them about sex and contraceptives. Some teens do make good moms, but some are not ready to grow up and take on the responsibility. Family memebers need to get invovled with that teen to show them how be a good mother or father.
Brittany Williams
I do not think that any teenager would make a "good" teen mom. In your teenage years you are suppose to have fun and live your life. Even if teenage girls say they can handle being a mother, they most likely cannot. Once they have the baby, they will realize all the fun stuff that they used to do they can't do it anymore because they have a baby. Having a baby is a full time job; there is no time for fun activites.
Macy Shupe
Post a Comment