Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Start Early
I’m not picking on teens - honest! Many teens who have babies end up doing fabulously well in the long run - but it’s an incredibly difficult task at best. And, if you speak to them and ask them about their experiences, often they’ll say that although they adore their children, they do not think that teen pregnancies are a good idea.
So, how do we prevent them? Many people blame the media, the so-called teen celebrities like Jamie Lynn Spears and movies - but teens have been getting pregnant for generations, so is this a fair assessment? Is it fair to blame actress Ellen Page’s character, Juno (from the teen pregnancy movie, Juno), for this? I wonder how Ellen feels about having this trotted out constantly now?
I do think that - in most cases - teens who get pregnant don’t realize the long-term ramifications of their actions. How are they going to support the child? How are they going to take care of their health while pregnant? How are they going to care for their child’s health?
This article on CBC.com makes it seem easy: Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Start Early - but is it really that easy?
Image: Newscom
~~~~~
Tags: actress ellen page, jamie lynn spears, juno ellen page, photo ellen page, photo juno ellen page, pregnancy blog, preventing teen pregnancy, teen pregnancies, Teen pregnancyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Teen pregnancy
3 opinions for Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Start Early
tjwriter
Jun 24, 2008 at 10:12 am
I don’t think there is one easy solution out there. It’s a multi-faceted issue. I have several thoughts on what might be good ways to work on the issue.
Early and continuing conversations on sex, contraceptives, STDs, and pregnancy are important. Knowledge really is power, and the more educated you are on an issue, the more information you have to make decisions with.
I don’t think teens think about about the consequences of such things or the long term ramifications of such life altering events. While it does not apply to every child, I have seen young people who certaintly fill that Entitled attitude that the media keeps talking about. Parents who never let their children face the consequences of their actions really do their children a disservice.
Finally, I think having teenagers be around other new moms so that they can see the experience is also a good thing. Nothing shows you how rough it really is until you’ve spent 24 hours with a new mom.
There are always going to be the few that get pregnant, often by accident, but there is a disturbing trend where kids think it’s cool to be pregnant.
Marijke
Jun 24, 2008 at 10:52 am
Hi tjwriter - I so agree with you.
From what I see - and this is purely my own opinion - is that the girls who get pregnant on purpose or through very risky behavior, are not getting the attention the crave any other way. What better way to get attention than to have a pregnant belly?
kristina
Jun 25, 2008 at 9:44 am
I also think about how much harder, for everyone, it would be if a teen mother has a special needs child. We’ve done well for our son but we already had careers and degrees and lots of resources—-not saying it can’t be done, but raising kids takes a lot and raising one who’s disabled, quite a bit.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: