Teenage birth rate on rise
I read this story in the local paper yesterday and then we talked about it on the air and I am still at a loss for words. Those of you who know me know how hard it is to get me not to say anything. I am still trying to find the correct response. I do not want to blame anyone because those days are gone. We need to stop blaming and find answers and solutions that will work.
I read this story in the local paper yesterday and then we talked about it on the air and I am still at a loss for words. Those of you who know me know how hard it is to get me not to say anything. I am still trying to find the correct response. I do not want to blame anyone because those days are gone. We need to stop blaming and find answers and solutions that will work.
Right away people were quick to blame the minority population of our town but that is not helpful either. Let’s see if we can put our heads together and come up with some response.
Okay guess I was not at a loss for words after all.
I agree – the blame game should not be played here. Children having children…
We need to educate these children…counseling as I said in another post on another blog about this. Sometimes children just want to feel wanted and loved and a child brings that to them, unconditional love. More parental involvement is needed.
I don’t know Father, I wish I had an answer.
I spoke with a person a couple of weeks ago and they told me of two teenagers both 14 that are pregnant, one fathers age is 25. This is a crime but from what they told me the mother of the girl just turns away and the girl denies it so the father will not get in trouble. Shameful isn’t it?
The rise of teenage birth rates is just one more by-product of our increasingly permissive society. To illustrate this point, you might recall a “pact to become pregnant” made about a year ago by about a dozen Gloucester, Massachusetts teenage girls. Several of these teenage girls did give birth to children last year. I believe that parents can significantly reduce the number of teenage births by spending more time with their teenage children. I also believe that because many of these teenage girls are not receiving the time and love that they should from their parents, they are compensating for that lack of attention by becoming pregnant!
Father, bless.
I’m Fr. Andrew Bond’s wife, which is how I came across your blog.
I live across the country, but I’m sure our teen birth rate in Washington State is nothing to write home about, either. I used to volunteer in a Crisis Pregnancy Center and what I saw was young girls longing for love, willing to do whatever it took to please a boyfriend. Some of them wanted babies so they’d have someone to love them, little realizing what they were getting themselves into.
Conditions of poverty and a lack of education make it so much harder for parents to provide their teens with what they need to be secure and confident. Sex is free and comforting when you don’t have much to look forward to in life.
Maybe the question shouldn’t be “comprehensive sex ed vs. abstinence ed,” but “how can we mobilize to provide these teens with hope?
Asking your prayers.
teenage girls, not only in southbridge but around this country,need to understand the importance of respecting them selves, many girls think flanting their bodies in front of guys and trying to be sexy is a way to be accepted, popular and loved.Some girls think having a baby is the way to get control over their boy friends and be unconditionaly loved by their baby.These teens need to be encouraged to be successful in all parts of their lives,to learn to be a complete person and enjoy the fact that they are free to go to college,get a good paying job,some day marry and at the right time have a baby.growing up fast may seem great when your 14 or 16 but the novelty wears off when the baby is crying at 3 in the morning,you need to get up for work or class in a few hours and you irresponsible teen boyfriend is out running around on you because he is not ready to be a father.Most of these girls don’t understand that when the father leaves not only are you a single parent but your also the one with the child that needs to be raised for the next 18 years and most likely in poverty.linda
We live in a society that encourages promiscuous behavior of minors by it’s educational process. One that shows them how and rewards them when. We know that denying the father thwarts the crime, and their belief is that their is no crime to begin with. The only crime to this permissive culture, is neglect. Infants are the responsibility of the parents. The state rewards promiscuous behavior and pregancy with “free” pre-natal care, post-natal care, education of the mother, and in some cases a house. Programs are out there. What a deal. It has become acceptable to be a single mother,rather than shameful.