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So I'm sitting here, happily in my own little world, when I am presented with what today's teenage girls are just thriving to achieve. Forget getting a date for the prom, or freaking out over if their faces look plastic enough. Newest trend in today's youth is.....*drum roll* pregnancy. Here's a link. Enjoy.

Fewer U.S. teens are getting pregnant

It's just more headline grabbing silliness that's all. Strange stupid blibs are gonna happen. If you wanna worry about teens having kids in large numbers? Worry about Britian.


Since we're on the topic though one thing I've always wondered about. A good number of the girls in my graduating class got married while 18 or 19 and had kids. Most of them are still married. Do those really count as teen pregnancy? I mean they dodge pretty much most if not all of the problems associated with the condisation.

I think 18-19 avoids most of the problems but if I recall the age where marriages are most likely to 'succeed' is somewhere around 25.

But yeah, this is one of those media frenzy stories that catch people's attention because it runs so counter to our ideas of what teenagers should be doing, and the whole "pact" thing makes it sound like some sort of cult. Cults sell papers (or internet advertising, really).

Problem #1: US Gov's "Abstinance Only" policy. Yeah, don't tell your kids what will happen if they have sex, and force them to rely on what they hear from friends. Douche after sex, and you won't get pregnant

Problem #2: Parents who don't pay attention. A friend of mine is having a real soap opera going on right now, as a girl claimed her son got her pregnant. The girl's parents wouldn't even take the girl to an Ob/Gyn. Once it was discovered that the baby's heart wasn't developing right, the girl's parents shrugged and just gave my friend medical power of attorney to get their girl and baby treated, because they didn't want to be bothered with it.
So, parents are a big problem here.

Problem #3: Babies are 'In'. Look at all the TeenIdols in the news who have babies now. Teens want to be like their idols.

Problem #1: US Gov's "Abstinance Only" policy. Yeah, don't tell your kids what will happen if they have sex, and force them to rely on what they hear from friends. Douche after sex, and you won't get pregnant

While problematic these girls were trying to get pregnant, so they not an example of any problem with the current Government policy.

Problem #2: Parents who don't pay attention. A friend of mine is having a real soap opera going on right now, as a girl claimed her son got her pregnant. The girl's parents wouldn't even take the girl to an Ob/Gyn. Once it was discovered that the baby's heart wasn't developing right, the girl's parents shrugged and just gave my friend medical power of attorney to get their girl and baby treated, because they didn't want to be bothered with it.
So, parents are a big problem here.

This is certainly true and definitely applies here. This likely could have been headed off at the pass if one parent had caught wind of this. I'm not sure how a parent could have caught wind of this since it seems like they were trying to keep it a secret. Still talking to your kids about this before their friends do is likely to save you and them a world of shit. If you're to uncomfortable speaking to your kids about sex (hey no judgement here, I can understand how you do not want to think of your little boy/girl, who it seems you were just helping take their first step last week, banging like a lab rat on hormones) there are aids and alternatives. Believe it or not there was a video back in the 90s put out by the 3-2-1 guys.

Nothing much to be done here though in the face of voluntary parental disengagement, most of the cures I've heard suggested are actually worse then the problem.

Problem #3: Babies are 'In'. Look at all the TeenIdols in the news who have babies now. Teens want to be like their idols.

I don't follow the circus, who has been having babies?

Another cause of teen pregnancies is a lot of dumb teenage kids in single parent families end up with the idea that a baby is a source of unconditional love.

frigidmagi wrote:

Problem #3: Babies are 'In'. Look at all the TeenIdols in the news who have babies now. Teens want to be like their idols.

I don't follow the circus, who has been having babies?

Britney Spear's sister, Angelina Jolie, other HollyWood names.

Cynical Cat wrote:Another cause of teen pregnancies is a lot of dumb teenage kids in single parent families end up with the idea that a baby is a source of unconditional love.

From the Something Awful forums:

What I don't get is how this idea arose that the main emotion of having a baby is a warm glow of being unconditionally loved. Your baby loves you, yes, but will scream relentlessly and mercilessly for whatever it needs, without enlightening you to what that is, and whatever your mental state happens to be. It does not know or care if you are hungry, tired, sick or desperate for the loo. It is impervious to reason or pleading, it knows no mercy or patience. It will look at you with eyes full of adoration - and will fly into a hysterical frenzy of rage and terror when you leave the room for 30 seconds. And when it has a chest infection and is put on antibiotics which give it diarrhoea, and you are changing the ninth nappy of the day, with every cough it will violently squirt liquid poo out at jet propelled force, all over your jeans.

Nicely put. I especially liked the "It is impervious to reason or pleading, it knows no mercy or patience" line. I think a lot of prospective parents would be better served to think of their future child as a crying, pooping Terminator than a quiet, docile little angel.

LadyTevar wrote: Britney Spear's sister, Angelina Jolie, other HollyWood names.

This has got to be the mother of all stupid questions but don't they realise that Jolie is in her fucking thirties? Hmm baby at 16 or baby at thirty, which makes more sense?

Britney's sister, ok I understand that bit.