Anyone on here have your very 1st child as a young teenager? 14? 15? 16?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin had her 1st at 15, and is now 17 and pregnant with #2.

If you find that so shocking, prepare for your head to explode: My mother taught junior high back in the '70s & '80s. She had a 13-year-old student who was pregnant with her third child.

Ok, now that IS shocking by any metric. A third child at age 13?! That is some serious parental neglect or abuse right there. How was CPS not involved?

Has to be a typo. She probably meant to type 18.

I don't know, she said her mom taught junior high, which means 13 would be right. Maybe she meant had the first kid at 13 and the third by 18. (Not that that is so much better but at least it's something ...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again I say, 100 years ago it was probably normal for a girl to be married with at least 1 child by age 13 or 14.

No, it never was. Only among the elites was it something that was done for inheritance and alliance reasons. Rare among normal folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again I say, 100 years ago it was probably normal for a girl to be married with at least 1 child by age 13 or 14.

So what? People did loads of things back then that no civilized person would do today....including teenage pregnancy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again I say, 100 years ago it was probably normal for a girl to be married with at least 1 child by age 13 or 14.

No, it never was. Only among the elites was it something that was done for inheritance and alliance reasons. Rare among normal folks.

Wrong. Working class people needed free labor for their farm or business and knew that at least half their children would die in childbirth or as infants so they popped them out early and often.

[Anonymous]

The fact is many many girls have abortions at 13 - 18. If all those pregnancies were carried to term there would be so many cases like the stories here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was not at all unusual where I grew up (small town, Midwest, corn fields, nothing much to do). There were always several really pregnant girls walking around my high school. They weren't shunned or anything. The high school faced reality and added a baby care class for the girls and boys who were soon to be parents. The babies could be brought in for that period and the soon to be parents could practice diaper changes and such.

I'm sure some of the girls opted for homeschool but that certainly wasn't because they weren't accepted. As far as I know, those pregnant classmates are generally doing fine now, 20 years later.

this is why we need to bring back shame. There is no reason for a teenager to get pregnant these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again I say, 100 years ago it was probably normal for a girl to be married with at least 1 child by age 13 or 14.

No, it never was. Only among the elites was it something that was done for inheritance and alliance reasons. Rare among normal folks.

Wrong. Working class people needed free labor for their farm or business and knew that at least half their children would die in childbirth or as infants so they popped them out early and often.

They probably did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was not at all unusual where I grew up (small town, Midwest, corn fields, nothing much to do). There were always several really pregnant girls walking around my high school. They weren't shunned or anything. The high school faced reality and added a baby care class for the girls and boys who were soon to be parents. The babies could be brought in for that period and the soon to be parents could practice diaper changes and such.

I'm sure some of the girls opted for homeschool but that certainly wasn't because they weren't accepted. As far as I know, those pregnant classmates are generally doing fine now, 20 years later.

this is why we need to bring back shame. There is no reason for a teenager to get pregnant these days.

SHAME?

When did shame become a form a birth control?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was not at all unusual where I grew up (small town, Midwest, corn fields, nothing much to do). There were always several really pregnant girls walking around my high school. They weren't shunned or anything. The high school faced reality and added a baby care class for the girls and boys who were soon to be parents. The babies could be brought in for that period and the soon to be parents could practice diaper changes and such.

I'm sure some of the girls opted for homeschool but that certainly wasn't because they weren't accepted. As far as I know, those pregnant classmates are generally doing fine now, 20 years later.

this is why we need to bring back shame. There is no reason for a teenager to get pregnant these days.

SHAME?

When did shame become a form a birth control?

I'm Asian and honestly think some non-Asian Americans could use some shame. Stigma can be purposeful for keeping young people on the straight and narrow. There's a reason why Asians don't have many of the social problems that plague other races.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my childhood best friends got pregnant at 14 and had her baby just a month after turning 15. My parents had forbidden me from hanging out with her halfway through 6th grade when she became a "bad kid" in their eyes (got caught smoking and then got caught stealing from Icing in the mall). We still spoke but only at school and our friendship suffered because of this. She still invited me to her baby shower and I got her a gift on my own, but my parents wouldn't let me go. They thought it was appalling that her parents were carrying on as if it was a completely normal situation, throwing the showers, having a big 15th birthday party, the dad remodeling the basement to make an apartment for her and the baby's father to live in, etc. She switched to homeschool after the baby was born and we pretty much lost touch for years. She contacted me on Facebook about 3 years ago because it turned out we had another mutual friend through our kid's soccer team and FB suggested me as a friend. The baby she had in HS is turning 21 this year. That's crazy since we're both turning 36 this year. She has a 10 year old and a 6 year old now and is married (not to the HS baby daddy). It's funny because even though so much time has passed, we both still remember each others childhood secrets. I really wish my parents hadn't made me stop being her friend all those years ago.

Why the hostility from your parents?

Once the baby was born it should have been all about moving forward and not looking back.

Im a parent and I would never let my kid maintain a close relationship with a pregnant 14 year old. Or attend a shower. This is not normal or acceptable behavior. Its proven that more normalized this becomes the more likely girls are to get pregnant and think its cool. Its not.

Yes, it's best just to shame and isolate the child. That will certainly ensure a great future for her and her baby. /s

I'm worried about MY child's future, not the teen mom's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Asian and honestly think some non-Asian Americans could use some shame. Stigma can be purposeful for keeping young people on the straight and narrow. There's a reason why Asians don't have many of the social problems that plague other races.

Part of the problem is that we have not found a suitable subsitute for religion when it was removed from our modern (secular) society. Some people do ok (like yourself) without it but others don't have the DNA to lead a moral life without belief.

[Anonymous]

Idiots have taken over this thread. I'm out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was not at all unusual where I grew up (small town, Midwest, corn fields, nothing much to do). There were always several really pregnant girls walking around my high school. They weren't shunned or anything. The high school faced reality and added a baby care class for the girls and boys who were soon to be parents. The babies could be brought in for that period and the soon to be parents could practice diaper changes and such.

I'm sure some of the girls opted for homeschool but that certainly wasn't because they weren't accepted. As far as I know, those pregnant classmates are generally doing fine now, 20 years later.

this is why we need to bring back shame. There is no reason for a teenager to get pregnant these days.

SHAME?

When did shame become a form a birth control?

You must not be Catholic!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was not at all unusual where I grew up (small town, Midwest, corn fields, nothing much to do). There were always several really pregnant girls walking around my high school. They weren't shunned or anything. The high school faced reality and added a baby care class for the girls and boys who were soon to be parents. The babies could be brought in for that period and the soon to be parents could practice diaper changes and such.

I'm sure some of the girls opted for homeschool but that certainly wasn't because they weren't accepted. As far as I know, those pregnant classmates are generally doing fine now, 20 years later.

this is why we need to bring back shame. There is no reason for a teenager to get pregnant these days.

SHAME?

When did shame become a form a birth control?

You must not be Catholic!

Bahahaha! Catholic girls are the worst!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was not at all unusual where I grew up (small town, Midwest, corn fields, nothing much to do). There were always several really pregnant girls walking around my high school. They weren't shunned or anything. The high school faced reality and added a baby care class for the girls and boys who were soon to be parents. The babies could be brought in for that period and the soon to be parents could practice diaper changes and such.

I'm sure some of the girls opted for homeschool but that certainly wasn't because they weren't accepted. As far as I know, those pregnant classmates are generally doing fine now, 20 years later.

this is why we need to bring back shame. There is no reason for a teenager to get pregnant these days.

SHAME?

When did shame become a form a birth control?

I'm Asian and honestly think some non-Asian Americans could use some shame. Stigma can be purposeful for keeping young people on the straight and narrow. There's a reason why Asians don't have many of the social problems that plague other races.

You must have never been to Thailand before.