Posted on 05/07/2009 3:43:37 AM PDT by thomas16
Having dealt with this issue as a mother, here is some advice to add to your deterrent factor, which works really well until they meet someone the can’t resist and all their friends are doing it.
The reason there is a problem with teenagers getting pregnant is not a lack of understanding. It is us trying to pretend they are still children at this age.
God designed us to come into sexual maturity in our teens. All major religions recognize the age of 13 as symbolic to entering adulthood. In every culture but our own, and in the last hundred years or less, girls and boys married off in their teens.
Now, we consider people too young to make good decisions, treat them like unknowing ignorant kids, and tell them to deny exactly how they were created to be. We expect nothing of them, and they are more than happy to oblige. We tell them they can’t know what love is, can’t possibly make a decision, and not to get serious until they are 30. This sends a confusing message to them.
The Virgin Mary gave birth at 15. That was Gods decision about age. Many will say it is incomparable, things were different then. Yes, they were. Today kids have more advantages, information, and knowledge than at any time in history. They would be more well equipped if we would stop expecting nothing from them and start teaching them morals, responsibility, and stop indulging them at every turn.
My oldest is about to be married. He will be 22 in July. His fiancee is 20. He wanted to marry sooner, but they have only been together now 1 year, so his courtship didn’t commence until he was 20. He has only had 2 girlfriends and both were too immature to handle his view of marriage, so they did not work out and he knew that relatively soon.
My middle son is going into seminary next fall. This is a moot point for him. He has not dated, as in our family dating is for locating a spouse, not a hobby. He does not plan to date, as he is sure of his calling, although he will attend prom with a friend next year.
My youngest is 15. He is not ready to find a spouse yet, therefore has not yet begun dating. He is not sure if he is called to religous life or married life so has opted not to date yet.
You cannot teach abstinence until you teach what dating is actually for. It is not a sport, a social outlet, or a right of passage. It is something to help you discern the married life.
PS. Our sex education took place at home using Theology of the Body, Humane Vitae, First comes Love (by Scott Hahn) Scripture, and a frank Q and A session. I opted them out of public school sex ed because they cannot teach the why’s of sex, only the how’s. Seperating them reduces sex to a hobby and removes the purpose from the act. Would we teach our children how to do drugs safely, just in case they could not control themselves and just HAD to do drugs? It seems a silly concept to me.
I took offense to the glib way Fox reported this.
Teenage mothers aren't getting attention like Bristol is. She's glamorizing teenage pregnancy. They'll say look at her she has this beautiful baby, she's dressed well, looks great, and now she is a born again virgin. I'll do what I want now, if things don't turn out well, everyone will excuse me and speak adoringly of me and hold me out as a role model for their daughters. What's the big deal? Things didn't turn out bad for her. I don't say condemn her, but to hold her out as a role model is beyond ridiculous.
Bingo. I don't know about you, but I did a lot of stupid things when I was 18. And the stupidity continued until I graduated from college. The real world had a positive, sobering effect on me.
Wait and see, let the bloom come off the rose for the next few years. The point is that she will stick by her principles and it will be fun to watch them squirm.
Yes.
She’s greatly complicated her, her child’s and her family’s life.
She’s young and she’s learning. The hard way.
Great point and all-around great post. As far as I'm concerned, perpetual gov't schooling is the leading cause of perpetual immaturity.
I think that saying nothing is better in that regard.
Like it or not, she and the ex-boyfriend are forever tied together through the child.
The less that’s said by either of them to create friction, the better.
All of this is going to be available to him and I cringe at that thought.
A-men!
She was taught great family values!!!! I agree with you!!!
And the “Bristol Stomp” continues. Faux News-Obama keeps its reporting standard.
ditto!!!!
Saying nothing has allowed the radical left to set the agenda. It hasn’t worked out so well for conservatives.
So perhaps we should stick up for our beliefs and support a good family and a young woman who admits her mistakes.
Young minds just don’t know what they think. I guess thats why we have parents.
You know, over the past few days, it has become readily apparent that every GOP hack who fancies himself a 2012 candidate has sent his minions on to this board to try and knock Sarah Palin down, using stories like this in conjunction with Alinsky's Rule #4 to try and paint her as a moral hypocrite. It's really getting old fast!
Romney's people are here...Sanford's people are here...Perry's people are here...Newt's people are here...and Huckabee's people are here.
So whose camp are you in? Or are you one of those holier-than-thou front-pew sitters who simply want to cast their stones, pass judgment, and condemn Bristol Palin to everlasting damnation because she had a child out of wedlock, never mind the fact that she chose not to abort him or put him up for adoption, but to keep and care for him herself?
So what is your problem with Sarah Palin, whose hardcore Conservative record in Alaska makes the records of all of those other RINOs pale in comparison?
It's bad enough when Axelrod's trolls do it, but it really sticks in my craw when Republicans do it to their own.
NOTE: Alinsky's Rule #4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity."
What’s next, Keith Richards is going to come out and say you shouldn’t do drugs?
Maria Dolgetta, a spokeswoman for the foundation, said Palin will be paid for her appearance but declined to disclose how much.
http://newsminer.com/news/2009/may/05/bristol-palin-promotes-teen-pregnancy-prevention/
“Teenage mothers aren’t getting attention like Bristol is. She’s glamorizing teenage pregnancy”
Why is she getting the attention? Because the left is using this young woman and her baby to attack Bristols mother.
Its far better for her to come out and tell other young girls to wait than to keep her mouth shut and let them think everything is ok.
Afterall, someone has to tell young women to keep their legs closed.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from exercising bad judgement.
I agree. When you are already in a hole, stop digging.
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