Im watching the Tyra show and she has teens on that are pregnant or wanting to get pregnant. There is a 13 year old who is 4 months pregnant.
I couldn't imagine having a baby at 13. Im 22 and still nervous about the baby coming. It's hard to think that I might have to put my little girl on birth control at 12 or 13.
Don't get me wrong, Im so excited and ready for the baby! But its a little nerve racking to think of the future. I couldn't imagine being in middle school and having a baby!
Re: Teen pregnancy on Tyra
I can't stand watching that shiit on the tellie. All it does, is piss me off like there's no tomorrow.
Where are the parents throughout all of this? When I was 13, I had more boy friends than girl friends...but I was never allowed to have a boy friend in the house if I was alone, and neither was I allowed to go to their homes unless we were going to be supervised.
Not true, not true. No one throws furniture on Tyra.
I've seen this episode a couple of times, and it still makes me stare at the tv in disbelief every time I see it. I could not imagine being pregnant at 16. And the girls who are 13 and 14....I just can't imagine. I didn't even know much about sex at that age. And I certainly wasn't talking about how much I wanted a baby. I've always known that I wanted kids, but I certainly didn't start trying to attain that goal!
I am nervous to have a girl for this exact reason. When/if I have a daughter someday, I suppose I will need to put her on birth control when she gets her period. But then I wonder: is this telling her it's ok to have sex, or is it being safe and realistic? Ugh.
That makes me wish my 7th grade science teacher (who did our sex ed class) should be the spokes person for sex education every where. I remember after that class everyone pretty much left the class terrified of it and said they would wait.
*sigh* As a Reproductive/Sexual Health Educator - unfortunately I have seen this far too many times. I used to have girls from a local Jr. High School who had to come over to the High School for a Young Mom's group that I conducted. People don't believe me when I say I have met girls as young as 11 who were pregnant. And not just pregnant, but developing STD's - including HIV/AIDS! The agency I worked for most recently also has a women's health clinic and we had LOTS of Jr. High aged girls come in with Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, HPV, Herpes, and even HIV/AIDS. They'd swear they were Virgins...well come to find out they were getting these STD's from oral sex! Preforming oral sex on a guy has become like kissing - it's just a thing you do, you know, to help a buddy out.... It's horribly sad!
I feel like there are sooo, so many contributing factors to the increase of pg and STD's among young girls...in my mind, the top two reasons are a lack of proper education (comprehensive - NOT abstinence only, NOT fear tactics, etc) and lack of parental involvement. Parents are primary teachers - for everything. The messages we receive (verbally or by observation...) are the messages we are most likely to carry with us through life. Some parents just don't know how to have those conversations with their kids; others don't know the right way to convey their messages; and others give poor, poor examples to their children when it comes to sex, self-respect, etc.
The best thing I used to tell parents was to remember that sex-ed at home should be an 18 year long conversation; NOT "The Talk" like we hear about - that scary talk that children and parents fear. With every stage in life, children should have a clear understanding of certain issues regarding sexuality - for example, a toddler should know the proper names for their body parts and know that no one else besides themself is allowed to touch those parts.
Anyway, I could go on and on; but I digress. I would do anything to be able to reach every girl out there and give her positive messages about sex and sexuality!
I was 19 when I got pregnant and 20 when I had my first child..I was ALMOST a teenage mom (an older teen) and even being married, the looks I got and the things that were said to me were so hurtful and rude & some of these little girls WANT to get pregnant super young... It blows my mind!
At 13 having a baby was the last thing I was thinking of! I do see people who have great lives even with having a teen mom- my MIL was 15 when she had my DH and they had a pretty good life, but holy I just don't understand how these things happen!!
if you parent your child, you probably won't have to put them on BC that young. WTF is wrong with people.
Sorry.