Women are getting younger and younger these days when they have children. In some aspects women are older, waiting to get out of college and find a good husband before they even think about having children. On the other hand the number of teen pregnancies goes up each and every year. Just in my graduating class of 2004 at just one high school over 50% of the graduating students had children, were pregnant, or were males and had a girlfriend or acquaintances that were expecting.
Some of the growing population of teen pregnancies can be attributed to parents not being home enough. Today's world has made it necessary for both parents to be working and in doing this has cut down on child/parent relationships and time spent together. This in turn is causing the understanding that protected and safe sex needs to be practiced and the understanding that certain age groups should not participate in sexual relationships to be completely looked over. The absence of parental figures and the absence of proper sex education are contributing to the young ages that are popping up pregnant. Today there are children as young as 8 years old that have given birth because they think that it is ok to have sex, or have been pressured by a slightly older peer.
Another reason behind the rising population of teen pregnancies is the fact that all teens just want to fit in. Now days if you are a virgin or don't believe in premarital sex then you can become an outcast and be laughed at. Because of this many teens give in so that they can “be like the crowd”. Another reason behind the teen pregnancies is that young girls are dating older guys instead of staying in their own age group. This leads to the more likelihood that the girls will be pressured into having sex. While back in the old days it was average for girls to be married and have children by the ages of 13 and 14 years old, they were also more mature and more understanding of how to properly raise children. Because they were already out of school by that age and had been taught to take care of children as well as to cook and clean, they were able to complete the tasks that mothers have to complete each and every day. Young children now days cannot complete the tasks of being parents. They have not been taught to care for children or a household and therefore, a high rate of abandoned and abused infants are beginning to surface.
One of the side effects of such young children having children is that it leads to infants who are not properly cared for. Many young mothers would rather spend time with friends and be children than to care for the small child that they have brought into the world. They do not know what it is like to care for a child and therefore the infant gets neglected and usually winds up with health problem to go along with the insecurity and aloneness that they wind up experiencing. In my personal experience being a young mother can be difficult, and I was 21 years old and had a husband when my daughter was born. I have also experienced the offset of abandonment because of being too young. My niece is a mere 19 years old and already has 3 children. She has left the 2 oldest with other family members and recently has begun to dump her newborn off on me quiet often and “forgets” to come back and pick her up. I know for a fact that if her mother had been more involved in her life and had taken care of her the way she should, that she would not have wound up being one of the statistics of teen pregnancies. My niece has said herself that if shed had her mom in her life more she would not have been seeking the company of men, in turn not having messed up and had so many children at such a young age.
I truly believe, as do many experts, that if parents would remain involved in their children's lives and not rely solely on school and daycare to raise their children that not only the number of teen pregnancies would drop, but the rate of violence and other such problems would begin to drop as well. I also believe that parents should better monitor what their children see and listen to on the radio, television, and in video games so that the children will not be introduced to violence, sex, drugs, and alcohol until they are of an age that they can understand and withstand the pressures of such things. When the girls my age were twelve years old we were still climbing trees and playing with dolls, however girls just 3 years younger than us were already having children at that age, we can put a stop to the madness if we as parents just take the time and spend more time and attention to our children.
