Thanks to MTV glorifying teenage pregnancies and motherhood in their shows (and Much Music too!), teens across the Western world will think nothing of getting nice and round in their high school and early college years with their boyfriends. Children are not the next Prada bags, they aren't this trendy thing that young girls should be acquiring. Children require a lot of hard work, attachment, commitment and money. Every single one of the teenage mothers I know are all suffering. They are stuck in a vicious government assistance cycle and will likely never get a university degree.
Teenage motherhood worries me for a lot of reasons. For one thing, black teen moms are already predisposed to living a life of poverty so why would they hurt their chances at success by becoming mothers so young instead of fighting the system and getting jobs and going to a post-secondary institution? Another thing, these girls are having babies with a boyfriend they may not keep dating and leave their children with a 'baby daddy'. If you're not going to marry the guy, don't have kids with him! It will be complicated and unfair for the child(ren)! It's really a sad situation that can be prevented with birth control and condoms. There should be no reason why you would WANT to be a teenage mom, because as humans, we want to succeed and live good lives.
In my personal opinion, you should be actively trying to have a baby after you've had some technical training, some post-secondary education, a secure job that will give you maternity leave, if you won the lottery, if your boyfriend is a millionaire and wants to marry you FIRST, if you are 22 and older, if you're already married and relatively financially secure, if you're engaged and 22+ and\or if you are about to graduate from your post-secondary institution.
High school kids should NOT be getting pregnant and neither should first-year college students. Don't fuck it up, you only GET one chance at life and you will regret not doing more with it than pushing around a stroller and waiting in a welfare line up every month!
I do understand that some pregnancies are mistakes, but it isn't a cool fad, or trend. Not only are you putting yourself in a life of poverty and misery (young teen moms earn significantly less than their older mom counterparts) but you will be putting your children's life in poverty and misery too, and they don't deserve that because they didn't ask for it. So what if all your friends are popping out kids? You don't have to give into the peer pressure. 85% of my female friends are mothers but I didn't see the urge to get pregnant when I was 18 years old. Education should be the main goal at that age, and also it would help if you saved up money for your own car too. I feel so sorry for all the teen moms and their babies being stuffed on public buses. It's very sad to see, and don't act like it's this amazing thing and you're so happy.
I'm sure you all have ambitions. Use condoms if you have a boyfriend! Sure babies are nice, but babysit your friends or older siblings babies if you like them so much. Focus on you!!!!!!!!
