| Product: |
Teenage Pregnancy |
| Date: |
17/02/01 (55 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Get having a family out of the way so you can enjoy middle age!
Disadvantages: Can't go to uni, can't get qualifications at the same rate as peers
Teenage pregnancy is being viewed as a scourge of modern society - something which should be eradicated, and which (grand)parents should take responsibility for. I am going to argue that teenage pregnancy may not in every case be the dreadful thing it is purported to be.
My first point is that 'teen'age ranges from just turned 13 through to just before being 20. This may seem obvious - but it is actually legal for a young person to have sex for the majority of their teenage life. When a person is 19, are they less suitable to being a parent than a person who is 20?
The real outcry seems to be at school age children having babies. In my own case, my mother left school at 17 to get married, and I was born when she was 18. By all statistics my mother was a teenage mother - and many people would say that she missed out on her life, etc. etc. Everybody except her that is! She now very much enjoys seeing her peers struggling with young children while she goes off on nice holidays!
Did I suffer by being the child of a teenage mother? I don't think so. I went to a good university, I have a good job, and a stable relationship. I haven't got children myself yet, and so have avoided the often talked of 'trap' whereby teenage pregnancies continue through families. I get on well with my family - they are friends, trustable, talkable to, helpful and supportive.
More recently, a good friend of mine was a teenage mum. Again, she left sixth form to have her baby. Asked if she would do the same again, she acknowledged that she wouldn't - she has forfeited the opportunity to go to university, and her children are both too young to allow her to go to work. However, she doesn't think having her baby has ruined her life - just changed it.
One thing my friend and my mother both have in common is a very strong family network. Although both families had issues when the pregnancy was announced, both f
amilies offered a full supporting environment.
I am not advocating that every 13 year old girl should go and get pregnant, but I believe that in certain circumstances teenage pregnancy is not the catastrophe that is so often reported. It is life changing, but not neccessarily life destroying. With good family support, and a positive attitude, it is survivable.
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Last comments:
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- 08/03/01 Useful op, although I don't think that you should miss out on university or college because you are a teenage mum. I had my first daughter while I in my early twenties and still at university - there are programs for these situations now and young mums (in fact ALL mums who want to study) should look into them. I had my nursery fees paid for partly by the state and partly by the university themselves. There are extra benefits for studying parents for rent costs, not to mention other benefits. I finished my degree - house, baby and studies notwithstanding. |
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- 07/03/01 Thanks for your comment on my op,thought I would check yours out.
You,like me,acknowledge the fact that there is a difference between teenage parents and under age parents.I too was the child of a teenage mum,late teens,my parents did a grand job and were still young enough to enjoy an active social life when we were all 'off hand' so to speak.
I was reasonably young when I fell for my first ( I was 20),we planned this,as we wanted our children while we were young,it has many benefits.Not such a huge generation gap e.t.c.I have known my husband since I was 16,still going strong after 20 years together.We made sure we were able to provide for our family before we started one though. |
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- 28/02/01 Thanks for all your comments - redhead, I know it's unusual, but all the same it does happen. Emma - glad it's all working out so well for you :) |
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