Teen Pregnancy, Hollywood Style

I am a teenage mother. My child is now 16 and I am 33. I talk to all of my children openly about sex, std's and pregnancy. I let them know that they are the most wonderful people in my life and I wouldn't change what I have for anything, but I also point out how difficult it has been not only for myself but for them. Because I was so young I am now going to college and my children have gone without what others have had their entire lives. Because I was forced into the working world and made enough money for us to survive but never have extra we do not qualify for any government assistance for college or healthcare or anything. We often go to bed with our stomachs half full and are really struggling because I became a mother too young. Once I finish school it will all change and they will know from experience not to make those same mistakes. They do not want another child to have to go through some of things that they have gone through because my parents were too embarrassed and busy to discuss sex and it's lasting effects with me. Maybe someone should make a tv series based on the life of a real teen age mother. One who does not get the chance to go to dances. The one boys no longer want to date. The girl that has to work and go to school so that she can struggle to put food on the table and a roof over their heads for the next 18 years.

Once again, Hollywood is glamorizing the topic of the day. Teenage pregnancy has been a problem in this country for over 30 years but now that white girls are coming home with a "baby bump" it's now become an issue worth attracting society's attention. Teen pregnancy, rise of STD's, increasing AIDS infected teenagers and their likes will never be taken seriously in this country until it becomes one of theirs. Wake up American parents, you need to be more involved and more in charge of your children and stop letting schools and television raise your children. Children who have close relationships with their parents and who can communicate with their parent as a child to a parent or a parent to a child don't come home surprised with a pregnancy test. They're already aware what the consequences are if they choose to participate in sex when they're not ready to and are also aware of the many diseases that can overcome them by having unprotected casual sex with infected unprotected and in many cases several partners. Society is not to blame and neither are the schools. The parents need to take a real close look in the mirror and realize they are the ones who are responsible for their children. Get a reality check.

When are we going to learn that more condoms and more contraceptives are not the answer to this crisis? Sex is treated as just another pastime among many children nowadays and that's a problem. Adults are not giving children good solid information about sexuality and fertility, perhaps they too have begun to see sex as simply a pastime.

It drives me crazy when articles like this come out and the journalists go from refering to pregnant girls as "women" to teen mothers, etc. These are children, having sex and they shouldn't be. Foget pregnancy, pregnancy is nothing compared to the horrible STD's these children are subjecting themselves to. STD's such as Chlamydia that can ruin them FOR LIFE!

WE NEED TO ENCOURAGE EDUCATION AND ABSTINENCE! NOT HAVING SEX IS THE SAFEST SEX A CHILD CAN HAVE.

TJ

Teens have been haveing sex long before Juno and Jamie Lynn. The impression that I get from reading this article is that the writer thinks teens should never have sex and that they are now becuse of hollywood. NOT TURE. teens have been haveing sex in the back seats of cars and getting pregnent on prom night way before hollywood made it look good. TV and movies are not the problem. Its often because parents dont have a sex talk with their kids. I know I never got one and when I asked my friends 9 out of 10 times they didnt get one either. Parents need to talk to their kids about haveing safe sex rather than telling them not to have it at all. They should talk about condoms and knowing the person well before they do anything. This way the child can confide his or her parents. Its unreasonable to expect a teenager to not have sex. Waiting untill mariage is rediculous unless you want your kid to get married at 15, 16, 17 years old. The 82% of parent that say they had the sex talk with their kids probabley waited untill they were a teen to talk to them about it. By then its to late because as we all know teenagers are hard heads and wont listen or they have already done it or thought about it by the time their parents talk to them. Its not hollywoods fault. And this is comeing from me and Im only 14.

I am 34 years old now, but I had my first child when I just turned 14years old. Look there is nothing glamerous about it. I look back now and say where were my parents. There is nothing good that can come from having a child so young. These girls are just babies themselves. I wasn't not in away way shape or form mentally able to make that decsion on having a child. I didn't really know what motherhood was about and the responsibility that came with motherhood, was far out of my league. I ruined not only my life but my child's life as well. I ended up a single mother, dropped out of school to care for my baby, can you see the snow ball effect here. Things kept getting worse. Don't get me wrong I love my child but if I could do it over again, I wouldn't have had sex to begin with. There is no easy answer to this. Yeah your parents can help outwith the baby but you losea big part of your life, that you will end up regreting. All those I never got the chance to do's, some of the 1st experiences we go through as growing adults we don't experience. I can't cause go cause I have no one to watch the baby. A teenager should not be saying that. Life experiences are lost and we can't get them back and look your a mom 17 years latter at 34, your child graduates from high school and off to college, at 34 you experiening the empty nest snydrome. It is a very hard shock to our systems, and what do I do now that my baby is growing up. Can't go back to get my high school diploma, have to settle for less GED. Can you see where i am going with, because of being a teen mom, now at 34 I am right behind the eight ball, trying to catch up. I didn't think about retirement, what retirement? I need to get a job, so i can even get retirement. Health insurance, there is so much that I didn't know about before having a child, so now I see and my furture don't look to bright, not did I just bust my but off being a lousy parent know I have to bust my back to try to give my self a future. It just makes life so difficult when you have a baby at such a young age. Stop and think about what you are doing, look at how you want your future to be and add the equation of a baby in that, when you are a teen. Can you really do it? Naw I don't think so, it affects you in every aspect of you adult life, especially mentally. Just think about the consequences is all i ask of these young girls who want a baby at such a young age.

I am 34 years old now, but I had my first child when I just turned 14years old. Look there is nothing glamerous about it. I look back now and say where were my parents. There is nothing good that can come from having a child so young. These girls are just babies themselves. I wasn't not in away way shape or form mentally able to make that decsion on having a child. I didn't really know what motherhood was about and the responsibility that came with motherhood, was far out of my league. I ruined not only my life but my child's life as well. I ended up a single mother, dropped out of school to care for my baby, can you see the snow ball effect here. Things kept getting worse. Don't get me wrong I love my child but if I could do it over again, I wouldn't have had sex to begin with. There is no easy answer to this. Yeah your parents can help outwith the baby but you losea big part of your life, that you will end up regreting. All those I never got the chance to do's, some of the 1st experiences we go through as growing adults we don't experience. I can't cause go cause I have no one to watch the baby. A teenager should not be saying that. Life experiences are lost and we can't get them back and look your a mom 17 years latter at 34, your child graduates from high school and off to college, at 34 you experiening the empty nest snydrome. It is a very hard shock to our systems, and what do I do now that my baby is growing up. Can't go back to get my high school diploma, have to settle for less GED. Can you see where i am going with, because of being a teen mom, now at 34 I am right behind the eight ball, trying to catch up. I didn't think about retirement, what retirement? I need to get a job, so i can even get retirement. Health insurance, there is so much that I didn't know about before having a child, so now I see and my furture don't look to bright, not did I just bust my but off being a lousy parent know I have to bust my back to try to give my self a future. It just makes life so difficult when you have a baby at such a young age. Stop and think about what you are doing, look at how you want your future to be and add the equation of a baby in that, when you are a teen. Can you really do it? Naw I don't think so, it affects you in every aspect of you adult life, especially mentally. Just think about the consequences is all i ask of these young girls who want a baby at such a young age.

Jesus was the only one born without sin, hence, Mary and Joseph's need to sacrifice. Jesus came to sacrifice himself on the cross to save us (including Mary) from our sin.

I believe that it's the adults that are failing the younger generation. Look at all these "teen" shows that they are producing where they glamourize sex and promiscuity. The media is saturated with sex! The fruits of their labor are causing STD rise, teen pregnancy, and then POVERTY follows that. That is exactly why we have poverty here in America. Giving condoms out in high school only encourages children to have sex. It has been proven over and over again that abstinence education is the only thing that works, but for some reason it became politically incorrect to talk about abstinence. Kids are looking up to adults for the truth, and sadly, they are NOT getting it.

It's time that adults need to realize that they have failed the younger generation. Our whole culture is revolved around sex, some of these "teen" shows out there are just appaling and they glamourize sex and promiscuity. And it's these producers who are raking in the money at the expense of teens. These are the fruits of their labor, and it's causing poverty here in America! Handing out condoms to kids only tells them it's ok to have sex in the first place, the only thing that will help prevent teen pregnancy is to tell these kids that it's not ok to have sex at such a young age. Abstinence works!

teen pregnancy? We have enough of that in this world. Girl's becoming pregnant, they are pregnant in middle school. We have boy's riding on a bicycle getting condoms. We have babies having babies, meaning 12 year olds. And I know of a girl was 12 and had a baby, and 14. And hollywood promoting this.
These hollywood teens have not one clue what it is to raise a child. Its not fun. Its work, and usually the boyfriend who says I love you to the girl or if you love me you will have sex with me. They are gone totally.
For these rich hollywood teens there parents can afford a nanny, or babysitter to watch the child and take care of it. But the middle class, cannot. I work in the health industry, and see this every day. Its horrible.
When are parents going to teach there childern about sex. Its not up to the school teacher, nor society to do that. It starts at home. And when a teen has a baby, its the parents who end up taking care of the baby, not the daughter or son. Having a baby is for a grown up, who is totally prepared for that.

What would give a nice rounded view of teen pregnancy and its effects would be to show these teen mom???s 2 years, 5 years, 10 years and 20 years later. That would give a true view of teen pregnancy. Pregnant teens become women with children trying to make their way in the world. Show a mom, tired, exhausted after working a 10 hour day come home to her 7 year old child and dumpy little apartment that???s messy with toys and books and cereal boxes on the counters. Show how the child mouths off and the mom loses her temper because she???s exhausted and she still has to make dinner and there was a note on the door from the electric company saying that their lights will be shut off if they don???t pay 220.00 by tomorrow (she doesn???t have 220). She goes to a payday loan place to cover the bill which gets her into a whole new heap of trouble.
Show her calling the father of the child and getting in an argument because he???s late with his child support or fighting over a holiday they both want. Show the child begging for the coolest toy or sneaker that all their friends have but she can???t afford. Asking why they don???t have internet like all their friends or cable TV. Then show her 10 years later with HER pregnant 17 year old.

Let???s make it real.

Hey, I was a pregnant teen. But I was 19 and we were in love and we???re still married 10 years later, so this isn???t EXACTLY my story, but everything I???ve written comes from personal experience or the experience of a close personal friend. Even to this day we struggle with things we would not have had to if we had established some sort of educational and financial base prior to getting pregnant. I???ve come home to the note on the door from the electric company, and cable TV and internet are the first things to go when money gets tight (we have no cable now). We are FINALLY getting close to qualifying for a first time homebuyers loan after working 7 years to pay off our stupidity in our early 20???s.

Being a mom IS the best feeling in the world. Do you want to know one of the worst feelings in the world? Telling your child that this IS supper (a can of green beans) because that???s all you have or getting an eviction notice on your door when you have two children and absolutely no money.

THAT???S the program that should be on TV. THAT???s the reality show that we should be watching with our teens to show them the reality of teen pregnancy and it???s real life-long consequences.

All very interesting posts but no one is discussing other consequences to unprotected sex other than pregnancy. What about all the potential sexually transmitted infections that range from the just plain nasty, like trichomonas, to the lethal, like HIV, and even cancer, caused by HPV? I have been in the very unenviable position of telling a 15 year old she has HIV: believe me, its not pleasant. If people protected their bodies like they protected their wallets, their identities, their computers, and their cars, this whole problem would be much smaller.

I got too much shocked after knowing the process of abortion.
It was too harmful for both mom and the baby...
Therefore I think the unpredicted or would-be tragic pregnancy should be prevented..~
Also the life of teenager as a student is really valuable .It's priceless!!!

Why is abortion never addressed as a solution? The world is already over populated and you have to make your body/life/schedule the priority. Baby's are made by science- not miracles.

I was recently pregnant. I have been with my husband since I was 19 (now 22) and this January, we found out that we were pregnant. Before we EVER started having sex we made a "Plan B" for ourselves, meaning that we each knew it was not time for us to be parents, and that we were not going to forced to be parents by anyone person or thing (including our own bodies). When we got pregnant, I made an appointment with a very nice nurse at a local abortion clinic. The first thing that was explained to me is that there is no shame or guilt in their offices. We are the bosses of our bodies, and we should remain as such. That morning I came in, had an exam, took the medications they gave me, had the procedure with my husband beside me holding my hand, and a nurse on the other side keeping me company. Afterwards I was taking to their "resting room" where I laid with a heat pad on my abdomen until I was ready to leave. I then went home with a huge weight off my shoulders. Why couldn't a movie or tv show protray that? There was no horrible scene, no dark office and sharp tools, there was no shame or guilt. Most surprisingly there were A LOT of men in there supporting the women they were with. Obviously, having an abortion is something you hope you never have to go through, but it was not a bad thing! I also went on to live a healthy and happy life. My husband and I are very close and we each feel like when it's time for us to have children, we will be the ones in control.

When I have children, I want to teach them that they control their bodies. When they're ready to be parents I fully support them. I will do my best to educate them so that they never have to experience an abortion- but if they do, I'll hold their hand and hopefully it will be as great of an experience for them as it was for me.

It's unrealistic to push abstinence. Kids need education, they need to be taught that sex is one of the healthiest, most awesome things there is. We shouldn't punish them with a baby because WE never gave them the info they needed.

Alert!!! Stupid people are breeding faster than smart people. This a sign that the human race is degenerating.