Anonymous
Post 09/12/2024 10:57     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
*now 43, not 45
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2024 10:57     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
I graduated HS in 1999 and one girl one year younger than me had a baby (so in Junior year). She is not with the child's father but turned out fine. Don't know how many others got pregnant and aborted.

Now for getting pregnant in your 20's (at 25-30), I am all for it. Had my first almost on my 26th bday, my second at 28. Now 45 and loving my teenagers while being still young(ish)! It was not common at all in my cohort, though. But I meet my HS classmates with toddlers and am relieved I did all of that with more energy.
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2024 20:18     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:I’m 45, HS class of 1998, and grew up in a nice UMC suburb in one of the better districts in my state. I knew girls who had babies in 8th grade, 10th grade, and senior year. The babies mostly raised by their parents sort of as younger siblings (in all cases there were actual younger siblings around) and the girls continued with sports, dance team, etc. They went to community college or the local state flagship.

I think it’s way easier to access contraceptives and figure stuff out (including abortion, probably) via the internet and using Ubers and Lyfts. It would have taken a lot of work and planning without the kind of easy access to rides and internet research kids have now. Plus it’s a lot easier to google “how do I know if I’m pregnant?” and get a lot of helpful, accurate information. Back then you either went to the library and had to look it up and might get 1-2 lines, or you might stumble into something in a magazine, or you might get inaccurate but reassuring advice from a friend’s older sister. And by the time you knew for sure, it was too late.


You could also buy a home pregnancy test at the drug store in the 90’s. But yes there is much more information available now.
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2024 20:04     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone from high school but I do know two couples who got pregnant in college, kept the baby and got married pretty soon after college (and not for religious reasons). Both are still married now (roughly 28 years later!)


Oh and the best part (DCUM will love this): One of the babies (born to my college friends when they were students) went on to Harvard (unhooked) for undergrad. So sometimes having young parents works out just fine!


Awesome…go tell your daughter to get knocked up…something tells me the young parents weren’t all honky dorey at the time.

Jeff Bezos’ mom had him while she was in HS. You think his takeaway was to do the same with his family?


I think the point is that it’s not the end of the world if it happens. Especially if the couple has supportive family.


And to be fair, it's healthier to have a pregnancy as a late teen than AMA.


Health can't be the only consideration
What does the mother want?
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2024 18:51     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Nobody had kids (At least that people knew about) in my high school, which was a large MC/UMC school in a western state. A few girls got married soon after high school and had kids at 19-20, but they were all very devout Mormons/fundamentalist Christians.
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2024 18:37     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone from high school but I do know two couples who got pregnant in college, kept the baby and got married pretty soon after college (and not for religious reasons). Both are still married now (roughly 28 years later!)


Oh and the best part (DCUM will love this): One of the babies (born to my college friends when they were students) went on to Harvard (unhooked) for undergrad. So sometimes having young parents works out just fine!


Awesome…go tell your daughter to get knocked up…something tells me the young parents weren’t all honky dorey at the time.

Jeff Bezos’ mom had him while she was in HS. You think his takeaway was to do the same with his family?


I think the point is that it’s not the end of the world if it happens. Especially if the couple has supportive family.


And to be fair, it's healthier to have a pregnancy as a late teen than AMA.
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2024 18:16     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone from high school but I do know two couples who got pregnant in college, kept the baby and got married pretty soon after college (and not for religious reasons). Both are still married now (roughly 28 years later!)


Oh and the best part (DCUM will love this): One of the babies (born to my college friends when they were students) went on to Harvard (unhooked) for undergrad. So sometimes having young parents works out just fine!


Awesome…go tell your daughter to get knocked up…something tells me the young parents weren’t all honky dorey at the time.

Jeff Bezos’ mom had him while she was in HS. You think his takeaway was to do the same with his family?


I think the point is that it’s not the end of the world if it happens. Especially if the couple has supportive family.


Not the end of the world is different from PP saying it worked out fine.

I doubt they think it worked out fine and am pretty sure they wouldn’t advise their own kids to do the same.
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2024 18:12     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone from high school but I do know two couples who got pregnant in college, kept the baby and got married pretty soon after college (and not for religious reasons). Both are still married now (roughly 28 years later!)


Oh and the best part (DCUM will love this): One of the babies (born to my college friends when they were students) went on to Harvard (unhooked) for undergrad. So sometimes having young parents works out just fine!


Awesome…go tell your daughter to get knocked up…something tells me the young parents weren’t all honky dorey at the time.

Jeff Bezos’ mom had him while she was in HS. You think his takeaway was to do the same with his family?


I think the point is that it’s not the end of the world if it happens. Especially if the couple has supportive family.


Yay!
Teen pregnancy
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2024 16:54     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone from high school but I do know two couples who got pregnant in college, kept the baby and got married pretty soon after college (and not for religious reasons). Both are still married now (roughly 28 years later!)


Oh and the best part (DCUM will love this): One of the babies (born to my college friends when they were students) went on to Harvard (unhooked) for undergrad. So sometimes having young parents works out just fine!


Awesome…go tell your daughter to get knocked up…something tells me the young parents weren’t all honky dorey at the time.

Jeff Bezos’ mom had him while she was in HS. You think his takeaway was to do the same with his family?


I think the point is that it’s not the end of the world if it happens. Especially if the couple has supportive family.
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2024 16:50     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:Studies show that teen sexual activity is much lower now than in previous generations, as is teen pregnancy. Kids these days are not having sex.


Yes they are. Not as many since the pandemic but about a third by 18:years old. They are more educated in birth control and abortion than previous generations. They are also more likely to have oral sex instead.
Anonymous
Post 09/10/2024 17:25     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Teen pregnancy rate (both births and abortions) are significantly down. Better access to contraception and long acting contraception (like the implant), availability of emergency contraception, and a decrease in sexual activity. It's not one factor by itself, but rather a combination of factors.
Anonymous
Post 09/10/2024 17:16     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Growing up, I knew quite a few. Nowadays it seems virtually nonexistent. I’m curious if anyone knows of teens/YA who had and kept a baby with family support. Did they go on to finish school? Did any of the couples stay together?


Why are you asking? It’s almost as though you are condoning this.



Not condoning at all. This is one of the few things that is better now than it was. But because it is so rare, it is more weird when it happens.

I am so glad my daughter is not growing up in an environment where the expectation for her as a teen is that she be having sex.
My mom practically encouraged it and thought it was inevitable. She seemed to think that’s how you keep a guy around, and you need to keep a guy around to support you. She never evolved, ugh. I’m very lucky that I did not myself end up a pregnant teen.

Anonymous
Post 09/10/2024 17:06     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone from high school but I do know two couples who got pregnant in college, kept the baby and got married pretty soon after college (and not for religious reasons). Both are still married now (roughly 28 years later!)


Oh and the best part (DCUM will love this): One of the babies (born to my college friends when they were students) went on to Harvard (unhooked) for undergrad. So sometimes having young parents works out just fine!


Awesome…go tell your daughter to get knocked up…something tells me the young parents weren’t all honky dorey at the time.

Jeff Bezos’ mom had him while she was in HS. You think his takeaway was to do the same with his family?
Anonymous
Post 09/10/2024 16:59     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:Studies show that teen sexual activity is much lower now than in previous generations, as is teen pregnancy. Kids these days are not having sex.


No they aren't. The normal social teens are still the same and still having sex. Is there a new part of this generation sitting at home on their phone using porn and their hand and never going out all weekend - yup. But the reason pregnancy rates are down are availability of contraceptives and Plan B and of course access to pregnancy tests and abortions if needed.
Anonymous
Post 09/10/2024 16:36     Subject: MC/UMC teens and very young adults having babies?
Anonymous wrote:I don't know anyone from high school but I do know two couples who got pregnant in college, kept the baby and got married pretty soon after college (and not for religious reasons). Both are still married now (roughly 28 years later!)


Oh and the best part (DCUM will love this): One of the babies (born to my college friends when they were students) went on to Harvard (unhooked) for undergrad. So sometimes having young parents works out just fine!