Teenage pregnancies and the battle to end them...

[Jessika]

I believe a lot of parents nowadays want to be a friend to their child instead of a parent.Parents generally don't challenge their kids to do
better in life. If you don't expect much of a child in life, you get what you
create.

Yeah that's how my mom is, which is why I am SO surprised my sister(s) and I turned out the way we did. My youngest sister just turned 12, so she has yet to go through all of this, but you can bet that if my parents start slacking I will NOT be afraid to be the "bad guy". Its not my place, but I do NOT want my sister to screw up. My mom is too worried about us being mad at her and just wants to be our friend, well it doesn't work that way because then we feel we can take advantage of and walk all over our parents. Sure, sex is ok to have now at younger and younger ages! Parents don't care, shoot they will take you to get birth control and protection (which, don't get me wrong, is better than having no protection at all, but they should REALLY be sitting down and talking with their children about it, and offer to help get protection if they are adament about doing it. My fiance's sister is like that, very manipulative and so disrespectful to her parents that they ended up kicking her out at age 17. But that is a whole other story). But to sum it up, education is a major part, parental supervision and involvement in their children's lives is an even bigger part! It all boils down to the parents nowdays and being too afraid to parent/discipline children!

Anyway that's all I have to say about that, because I don't want to start writing a novel (as I have already lol).

[Vela]

Hahah it's hard not to write a novel about it=) Pops has a lot of good points. I also discourage my children from being friends with the opposite sex. I go out of my way to make my home open to all of their friends as a gathering place, I take them to and from friends houses so they get to hang out with friends all of the time, but i discourage opposite sex friends because I just don't think it's necessary to have that at their age and only leads to trouble. I also am very picky about the clothing my kids wear. My oldest is 13 and she doesn't wear short shorts, or short skirts, or tank tops. She isn't allowed to show her belly or walk around looking like a young prostitue, which is how many in society dress nowdays. My daughter actually LIKES to be covered, because it's what she's been taught since she was a baby. She doesn't even ask for clothing that doesn't cover her up. She wears capris or longer skirts and she can wear tank tops with jackets or other shirts over them but she doesn't feel like she needs to show off her body to the world. Girls run around mostly naked and then get offended if someone wants them to cover up! Boys aren't much better. I can't change society, but I can try to help my kids get through these teen years as easily as possible with a strong beleif in God (that's how our family works, but not everyone beleives in that), strong beleif in being moral and keeping ourselves more covered than not, and we have discussed sex but not the literal aspects of it, and why it's important to wait. My children also will not be attending the school's sex classes because I beleive they are inappapropriate. Kids nowdays are bombarded with sex from the time they are small children. In fact I saw a billboard, HUGE, on my way down the highway showing a pair of very large breasts and a bra...it was an advertisement for plastic surgery. It's VERy hard nowdays to try to prevent our kids from seeing it all around them but we limit TV, limit the movies and things they are allowed to watch and do the best we can. I just wish society wasn't so gung ho to force the sex issue on kids at such a young age and expect them to understand the ramifications of it. Anymore the exception is the virgin, and those are ridiculed by their peers. That is horribly sad. I think it's parent's responsbility, but I also think it's society's responsbility as a whole to stop promoting sex like it's nothing, like everyone should just go out and sleep around. Not only is is degrading and damaging, but it's also dangerous. I actually agree with you about most of what you said Pops, it's a sad thing to see and rally doesn't seem like such a hard thing to fix if everyone would stop acting like it's okay to just have sex with everyone and have one night stands, etc. etc. and if people would teach their kids how to avoid dangerous situations that get them raped or hurt or having sex before they are really ready.

[Pam]

Sex is shoved at kids (and adults for that matter) in an *in your face* kind of way through advertising, TV sitcoms, videos, movies, etc., etc. There is a lack of spiritual nourishment in the homes today and I blame that in a major way. Nowadays most kids come from families where there is no one home when they come home after school. A girl in my daughter's high school had not one but two children by the time she graduated high school. When she came home from school the boy would come over and well.....

I am probably an old fuddy duddy but I can remember the days when sex was saved for marriage. Sure there was the occasional pregnant teen when I was in high school but most kids were just not having sex at all. We didn't have sex flaunted in our faces everywhere we looked. TV shows were of the Ozzie and Harriet and Leave it to Beaver variety (see I told you I was old) and my mom was home when I got there. Sure I didn't grow up with the *things* that kids have today with both parents working, but it was a happier time for sure. I feel sorry for kids growing up today. So much stuff is being thrown at them at an age when they should be enjoying just being kids.

[Lori Jordan]

I agree what all you have said 100%.I myself did not wait until marriage i was 16 when i started,and i cannot say that i was forced to do so my mother and father were very strict,I had lots of friends so it wasnt a attention getter i really have no answers for why i started so young,But now you see 13 year old having children it is crazy.I agree with the parents wanting to be the kids friend ,I try to inforce things but at the same time i want my daughters to know that they can come to me with any problem they might be having.All you can do is raise your kids the best you can..That is the only thing you can do.If they make the wrong choices we also have to deal with that.

[CagneyDog]

root of the problem is boys and girls mingling too freely

So lets keep boys on one side of countries and girls in the other? Man oh man, I'm shocked by some of the replies on here. Although dressing skimpy is a turnoff, I don't think it promotes losing your virginity or having sex. Wearing short skirts isn't "just asking" for someone to seduce you. It's all about self morals, and self respect. People can wear skimpy clothing, have boyfriends, and be friends with males if they respect themselves, and have strong morals. Parenting has little to do with it, sure they need to educate but deep down every kid knows the downsides to teenage sex and deep down people know that absitence is the safe way to go until your older. Education isn't what is needed. Parents can say all they want and people will go against it, I know plenty of people that couldn't careless what their parents say. IMO it's all about the person. If you have morals than you can realize what you are getting yourself into. Putting the blame on parents, media etc. isn't right. When it comes down to it, it's your decision.

Ps: To answer the question, I am not in this side because I dress skimpy or any of that. As a matter of fact, I don't at all. It's just an opinion

[Lady's Human]

Parenting has little to do with it,

IMO it's all about the person. If you have morals than you can realize what you are getting yourself into.

And who instills morals in a child?

Last time I checked it was parents.

[CagneyDog]

And who instills morals in a child?

Last time I checked it was parents.

Last time I checked people without parents or with very litty parenting support still have morals. Morals are self obtained. I have morals that my parents don't.

[beeniesmom]

So lets keep boys on one side of countries and girls in the other? Man oh man, I'm shocked by some of the replies on here. Although dressing skimpy is a turnoff, I don't think it promotes losing your virginity or having sex. Wearing short skirts isn't "just asking" for someone to seduce you. It's all about self morals, and self respect. People can wear skimpy clothing, have boyfriends, and be friends with males if they respect themselves, and have strong morals. Parenting has little to do with it, sure they need to educate but deep down every kid knows the downsides to teenage sex and deep down people know that absitence is the safe way to go until your older. Education isn't what is needed. Parents can say all they want and people will go against it, I know plenty of people that couldn't careless what their parents say. IMO it's all about the person. If you have morals than you can realize what you are getting yourself into. Putting the blame on parents, media etc. isn't right. When it comes down to it, it's your decision.

Ps: To answer the question, I am not in this side because I dress skimpy or any of that. As a matter of fact, I don't at all. It's just an opinion

I have to agree with you 100%.
I was laughing at a lot of the replies here.
It's different for every person.

Growing up, most of my friends were males.

I didn't have sex until I was almost 20, and it happened 4 years into an important relationship.

I always wore what I wanted and never got raped because of it.

Parenting has little to do with it: my parents never had "the talk" with me.

Education: Never attended a sex ed class.

I especially agree on this: deep down every kid knows the downsides to teenage sex and deep down people know that absitence is the safe way to go until your older.

[K9soul]

Whether you disagree with some people's thoughts or not, I think it's rude to state you were laughing at people's replies. Everyone has different viewpoints on these issues and some really took the time (and risk of getting flamed) to put their beliefs down.

There is obviously a reason why teen pregnancy is so much more prevalent in the western world than in other places. You can't just claim those in another country are simply born with more morals than those in this country. I don't believe people are born with morals and ethics. They are learned, one way or another, through life's circumstances and the people we are around. Sometimes we develop our morals based on family members we do NOT want to be like, sometimes vice versa. No one ever said people who dress scantily will get raped or that they are asking for it. No one ever said if you wear tank tops and have guy friends you WILL 100% have sex. Heck a lot of my best friends were guys as a younger person. We were simply saying it ups the CHANCES, it ups the TEMPTATION for hormones and emotions to rule a person.