Why is teenage pregnancy cool?...

[MomoJA]

These shows are shameless, but even more disturbing to me are shows like Jersey Shore and Bad Girls, any of those type of reality TV. I've never actually watched them, but I hear kids talking about them and other shows like them.

Watch the movie, Idiocracy, if you haven't seen it. Hilarious, but a little depressing because you can almost see us heading down that path.

 

[superman]

I would never suggest condemning young parents....however, it seems much more logical to spend money on education and prevention rather than encouraging 15 year old girls to go get knocked up.

How am I supposed to tell my daughter to wait until she's responsible before starting to have children rather than follow what she is being bombarded with on television? It's sickening.

i dunno man... have u watched that show? its pretty much anything but promotion. imo it shows the realities of it...so many girls dont think having a kid would be that hard, or that time consuming.... it does a pretty good job of zooming in on the complexities

 

[emergencydentis]

This is what I was scared about a few years ago. What was happening back then (when all this getting-knocked-up-at-fifteen was starting) was supposed to be preventive and should have come with a warning...and not with an encouragement for getting pregnant at a very early stage in life. Now there's more to preventing it from happening..there's also "curing" it and stopping the "virus." This is becoming widely insane.

 

[MomoJA]

i dunno man... have u watched that show? its pretty much anything but promotion. imo it shows the realities of it...so many girls dont think having a kid would be that hard, or that time consuming.... it does a pretty good job of zooming in on the complexities

The stated intent is to do just that. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have that effect on teenage girls. How can it when, for example, So-and-so from the show makes the cover of magazines at the check-out? I saw one yesterday, and have seen numerous others since moving back to the US. I had no idea who these people were, but apparantly I was supposed to know them, and so I read one once, and those girls have definitely been glamorized.

I'm not surprised that girls already of the mindset to want to get pregnant watch that show and are not dissuaded in the least. Anyone who works with teenagers could tell you that would be the case. Meanwhile, the celebrity afforded these girls only ends up promoting the circumstance.

 

[superman]

meh

 

[Dadu2004]

I agree with MomoJA. Just go to the grocery store and look at the magazines right by the checkout... "Teen Mom" this and "Bristol Palin" that and "16 & Pregnant Star" blah blah. It's turned into a badge of honor...because now you can have your own reality show and get paid big bucks because you're knocked up at 15.

 

[mom2many]

I haven't read all of the replies and I am certain I have a different take, lately I always seem to LOL, but here goes..

Education begins at home, always has and always will, these shows do show the harder side of parenting and yes, it is also glamorized to some extent, but it isn't always the best publicity that these young girls get.

I think Dadu you asked how do you teach your DD when shows like this exsist? (something to that extent) you make your feelings known, from the day she can ask questions you answer honestly and truthfully. No matter which "talk" you have, abstinence or moderation, she should know from a very early age where you stand on teen sex and she should always know how to protect herself, our boys aren't the only ones who should walk around with a condom's in their pockets.

We don't just need teen sex ed, we need parent sex ed also. So many parents don't know how to answer the questions, so many parents try to bury their heads in the sand and pretend like it doesn't happen...well it does, society needs to wake up and except the fact that our kids have normal urges just like we adults do and they need to learn how to address these issue's so that our kids can feel safe coming to us.

There's part of my take...

 

[TabascoNatalie]

I agree with MomoJA. Just go to the grocery store and look at the magazines right by the checkout... "Teen Mom" this and "Bristol Palin" that and "16 & Pregnant Star" blah blah. It's turned into a badge of honor...because now you can have your own reality show and get paid big bucks because you're knocked up at 15.

these are just a few individuals out of thousands. Bristol Palin would receive no media attention whatoever if her mother wasn't Sarah Palin. if these mag cover teen mums get to make money out of this -- lucky for them. but certainly it is far from reality for every other teenage mother.
as for young girls taking it as example -- well, must be a way deeper problem if people absolutely believe in mass media gossip.

however, i know there are women (very young and older) who assume that getting knocked up is a guarantee for a happy marriage. what normally doesn't work.

 

[IADad]

I think Dadu realizes it's his parental role, but the pondering is why does media have to make it more difficult for us parents? We're partly to blame as consumers, we could not watch the shows, buy the magazines, but it's inconvenient to be principled. (and I'm by no means pointing any fingers, I let my kids watch too much and probably the wrong TV, and I pay for it in having to teach lessons I may not otherwise had to) So, we have to do damage control. It partially comes down to us monitoring what they see, taking the time to discuss what they see. But there's still a fundamental problem with a society that feeds like this and the only way I can see to change that is one mind at a time, express to your friends what you think it wrong and how you want to make it better, and maybe eventually we'll change it.

 

[Dadu2004]

I'm glad IADad can convey my thoughts better than me....couldn't say it any better!

 

[mom2many]

I got that it was more of a pondering then a "real" question, but in-spite of that the answer is still the same.

I mean everything we do as parents is made harder by outside influences, everything. The way we feed our children, the way we discipline, CIO not to CIO. We are bombarded with shows and magazines were someone of influence is making statements about one thing or another and a lot of people will be "Well Yogi Bear used CIO" so it must be ok. IMO, if people took the time to research information for themselves, raised there children within the same information and was confident in their choices their children will follow along. This would give the world less hold on our children and allow us to parent how we see fit and no matter what they see out there will make a difference.

I'm not sure I am getting it out right, sometimes my brain knows what it wants to say but then it get's lost in translation.

 

[MomoJA]

Of course the way we raise our children can help them stand up against peer pressures, to a point. But there is no question that as ideas once taboo become more acceptable, it is more likely that our children will consider/accept/partake in them.

If we are all being honest, we can see evidence of this in our own generations. What our parents thought was behavior reserved for the badly reared we consider relatively harmless. And so with their parents, and so on. Surely some of this evolution in social norms is normal and even necessary, but at some point the disolution of our social standards is what will cause our society to fall. What we now raise up and celebrate on TV and covers of magazines is the lowest common denominator.

I see an urgency that is perhaps somewhat exaggerated because I teach that segment of the population. But if we are not careful, what is normal in that segment of the population will become normal across the board.

 

[mom2many]

Of course the way we raise our children can help them stand up against peer pressures, to a point. But there is no question that as ideas once taboo become more acceptable, it is more likely that our children will consider/accept/partake in them.

If we are all being honest, we can see evidence of this in our own generations. What our parents thought was behavior reserved for the badly reared we consider relatively harmless. And so with their parents, and so on. Surely some of this evolution in social norms is normal and even necessary, but at some point the disolution of our social standards is what will cause our society to fall. What we now raise up and celebrate on TV and covers of magazines is the lowest common denominator.

I see an urgency that is perhaps somewhat exaggerated because I teach that segment of the population. But if we are not careful, what is normal in that segment of the population will become normal across the board.

I will absolutely agree, however I never see teen pregnancy coming back as our norm.

 

[MomoJA]

I will absolutely agree, however I never see teen pregnancy coming back as our norm.

I hope you are right, and I'm certainly not seeing as much of it in the urban area where I now teach as I did 20 years ago in a rural setting where I first started teaching. Nearly all my students had been born to teenaged mothers. I also had at least a dozen girls who were pregnant for the second time and more than a dozen others who were pregnant for the first time. It certainly seemed normal in that culture.

 

[Dadu2004]

Very interesting....

Teenager Gaby Rodriguez fakes pregnancy for six months as part of high school senior project


I love what one commenter said about the article: "Only a moron would wonder why this isn't news. A teenager took it upon herself to, with TREMENDOUS discipline, force her peers to look in the mirror and think about exactly what they are getting into with underage sex, how they treat their friends who are pregnant, and the effects that trash like "16 and Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" don't show. This was sheer brilliance on her part, because they ALL bought it and exposed exactly what kind of people they are."

 

[youtube]

I belive this too be due to a lack of awareness amongst the yong, all who are spoken too afterwards seem to regret it.

 

[teenage_parent]

hi, i'm a teenage dad. so i think this post applies to me.

teenage pregnancy is not cool. i just want to say though that i do not regret, even for a sec, having my baby but it is for selfish reasons. She deserves a better life than what i am giving her and if only for that, I should have had her later in life.

the glamour of these teenage pregnancy is nothing but hypocritical just like the many things in hollywood. unfortunately, the media have more power than what you give it credit for.

seriously, parents tend to ignore it but think about it. we spend time with the media then times more than we spend time with you. it will influence us so have mercy on your children and find creative ways to talk with them about sex and all the s*** that comes with it.

 

[SoBelle]

It's not cool, people would do anything to make a buck and controversial issues get attention. If you stop watching it, it'll go away...eventually.

 

[danielle101282]

I don't think their goal is to show that its cool. I watch The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and it shows all the problems associated with teenage child rearing. I think their point is to show what it is like, that its not easy, and that they took responsibilities for their mistakes. Teenage moms should not have to hide like they are a leper. They are real people, maybe too young but they can be successful at raising their kids and they should be supported. We should give them encouragement instead of putting them down.

 

[whitter.bug]

I'm 20, and it was only a couple years ago I was in highschool. Despite these two TV shows, being pregnant at a young age wasn't cool. It made girls stick out, feel immoral and like an outcast. I think these shows help them cope and feel better about the situation, but it definitely doesn't make them feel cool about it. I had a friend who had a child, and she was 15. She was extremely immature but over the course of two years with the child, she is now the most mature of my friends. I hate to say it took this kind of thing to make her grow up, and it could have happened in a better way, but in the end she doesn't regret anything and has learned valuable lessons from this, which she can pass down to her child.