I have mixed opinions. Obviously it’s important for any "parent" to finish school and at least get their high school diploma, however, I think schools (and society in general) are making it a tad too easy for little girls to realize their fantasies of having a baby when they are themselves, still a baby. I have heard children (and by children I mean kids from 13 to 17 years old) speaking about getting pregnant and how they are not at all afraid of the financial or physical responsibilities. One girl told me "It will be fine. My mom would LOVE to have another baby so she will babysit anytime I want to go out and I can just go on welfare and get free insurance and stuff." Her school also offered a free daycare center in the high school and by the sounds of it, the kids just drop their babies off in the morning and go check on them throughout the day to show them off like baby dolls. On one hand, I realize the importance of having a high school diploma and how a free daycare in school can facilitate that for girls who find themselves in that situation. However, I think the whole world is just making it a little too acceptable and easy for kids to have babies of their own. (It’s sort of like the prison situation. Prisoners have more rights and in many cases, more amenities, than many hard-working Americans. So of course people aren’t afraid of the threat of going tot jail/prison). Maybe if we started making consequences a little more of an issue, we could cut back on both troublesome situations. What are your opinions? Try not to be too politically correct. I really want to know what people think.
(And to the teenage mom’s out there, I am not putting you down. I’m would hope you most of all would discourage another teen from going out and getting pregnant, right? You don’t have to regret your baby in order to admit you learned something from what you have/are going through.)
Kell Kell – I don’t think I said anything that should have insulted you. At least nothing that warranted your yelling "So leave it alone!" the way you did. I was simply asking for opinions from people about a situation I feel is getting out of hand – (The teen pregnancy rate). If you took what I said personally, I did not mean it that way. I’m glad young girls who accidentally got pregnant have a means to have daycare while completing their diploma. However, I’m afraid that the ones who WANT to get pregnant will find this program as just one more reason it’s "easy to have a baby." Do you understand what I’m saying now? I hope so. Good luck with your baby. I hope you finish school and achieve everything you want in life!
It’s a nice idea – but where does it stop?
As a University student, I would LOVE to have free day care but it’s not practical. If you gave it to high schoolers, you’d have to give it to Uni students, then the workplace. You have to draw the line somewhere.
There’s always time for these kids to get their high school degrees later in life.
I think it is sad that it has got to the point where schools need daycare facilities for their students children, but it really is a good thing that they are doing it. I don’t think it is encouraging young girls to get pregnant, it is encouraging young girls who DO get pregnant and have babies to finish their schooling.
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I think they are a good idea…free daycare is not enough to make anyone decide to have a baby, but free daycare is enough to make some girls decide to finish high school. There is no sense in continuing to punish these girls, no one comes out ahead when a teen mom drops out and then is unable to support herself or her children for the rest of their lives…everyone pays for that. Most high school daycares are overseen by child development teachers and staffed by advanced child development students (free labor). Parents are responsible for providing all food and snacks (for older babies) and providing diapers and wipes. In school daycares actually have a very low cost to keep them up and running.
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high school teacher
I like the idea of having daycares in high schools, not just for the teenage parents but for teachers as well. BUT I think the schools need to have mandatory parenting classes for all grade 9′s and have every student required to spend some time helping out with the daycare. Maybe spending some time with a screaming baby would make some of these teenagers realize that they aren’t ready.
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They have this in the junior and high schools here where I live. I’m not opposed because if it means they can finish their education by all means I’m for it. However, I understand what you mean. The teen pregnancy rate is so high here in my city…it is shameful I think.
I don’t know if it would be less if there was no high school day care…but I do know that there would be less graduates.
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Im a teen mom, & the day care is making it easy for me. My daughter is my first priority and I want to have a good job so im going to finish school,im glad they did this. Daycare is so expensive,so this works. &I didn’t plan on getting pregnant and I knew I was gonna be hard an my mom does not watch my daughter when I want to go out she tells me to suck it up.but I also thank my mom bcuz she has really helped me. & say ur kid got pregnant you would want them to finish school right? Right so, juss leave it alone!
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Teen mommy of 6 month old tiara <3
It’s a nice idea – but where does it stop?
As a University student, I would LOVE to have free day care but it’s not practical. If you gave it to high schoolers, you’d have to give it to Uni students, then the workplace. You have to draw the line somewhere.
There’s always time for these kids to get their high school degrees later in life.
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19 year old mum and Uni student.
I think its one of those things we do as a society to try to help those that need help. From what I understand about such programs they offer a lot more intensive parenting classes than I’ve probably ever taken since I was an adult when I became a parent. There was a special on one of the networks about teen parenting not long ago that showed one such program and I didn’t get the impression the babies were dropped off, paraded, and picked up at the parent’s convenience.
As for 13-17 year olds not afraid of the financial or physical responsibility a lot of that has to do with a teenage brain. The frontal lobe, which controls a lot of the action-consequence thinking that we do, just isn’t completely formed until the early to mid-20s. They quite literally cannot comprehend what they are in for. Teenagers also tend to greatly underestimate the "real life" cost of operating as an adult in the world. I remember a semester in college, the only one in which I didn’t have a job, I lived off of $300 cash (dorm and food plan prepaid). Had someone told me at that time there was a government program that would give me $600 per month plus free food and possibly housing I might have thought I could live a pretty good lifestyle off of that.
As for making consequences more severe, I can agree that for prisoners that sounds like a fine idea (though studies have shown that even the death penalty does not deter murder). However, when the consequences of teen pregnancy are that we punish an innocent baby by doing all the we can to keep her mother as uneducated and dependent on the system as possible I won’t jump on that bandwagon. People make mistakes or bad/misinformed choices but in the compassionate society we have created we help them dust themselves off and give them encouragement in a positive direction. Given all the opportunity in the world there will still be those who choose to be a burden on society, but that is the free choice we have given them with our current system.
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perhaps not at the school, but i do think that it is important for the kids and for the country as a whole that ppl get as much education as they can; so maybe a county daycare that accepts school age children’s babies while they are in school….
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