I find it interesting when I hear people say their parents are pressuring them to have kids, mostly because that's so unlike what I'm used to! My parents have always discouraged the idea with me, especially my mother who made it perfectly clear she didn't want to become a grandmother, and in any case, the later, the better. In her opinion, kids get in the way of one's career and are best had once both people are in their 30s and well established in a job. After all, they were 36 and 45 when they had me.

I'm also an only child, if you're wondering. :P

I won't get into all of my views on that, instead I'll get back on track: teenage parents? I am sceptical; yes, there are cases of perfectly successful teenage parents but more often than not, they struggle, and the care falls onto the rest of their relatives, especially financially since most teens do not have the means to support themselves, let alone a child. It remains, in my view, something to be prevented, as for girls who have "baby contests", the lack of education startles me.

I read in an Enquirer magazine (just letting you know where I got my sources) that this one school in Southern USA had a baby boom because they saw Britney Spear's sister had a baby and thought it was cool. That is where the pressure for teens to have kids is coming from. They see teen stars having babies and think it's glamorous. It's got nothing to do with Christianity because Christianity teaches you can't have sex before marriage, ergo you can't get pregnant before marriage. Sure children raised in Christian households (or even Christian children themselves) go out and have sex without their parent's knowledge. They're teens, that's what they do when they're in puberty. It's when they get pregnant unintentionally that the crap hits the fan.

Not all of teen pregnancies are planned but the majority of the planned ones aren't because they're ready to start a family, it's because they want to be glamorous.

That's the part I kept forgetting to say. The Christians don't actually ENCOURAGE premartial sex — it's widely known they don't work that way — but once married and stuff, some think it's "kids, kids, kids! WE LOVE GOD!"

The celebrities never show you the downside of it all. They just do it, suck it up, put on the Chanel and mascara and get out. They (or their nannies and husbands and sisters) are secretly changing diapers or dealing with spitup on their tube dresses and pushing double strollers everywhere.

I find it impractical to argue with people of faith on this and many other issues, You can't get blood from a stone..
I trust facts over 25th hand 2000 yr old dogma.

Religion has done so much harm preaching against any form of birth control.
It doesn't have any credibility in the real world.

Abstinence is also a form of birth control if you think about it. I'm not trying to be difficult here but you can't get pregnant if you don't have sex. At least, that is what they taught in my sex ed class. They taught us all about condoms, abortion and the pill but they were always certain to stress the fact that abstinence is the 100% preventative method.

They always say that stuff. Look at Bristol Palin, "Regardless of what I did personally, abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancy." Then critics said her mom was all for abstinence-only sex education, well, it didn't work on her. She said one thing and did another, keeps changing her mind and Levi's off to Hollywood now.

This was my point about proper all inclusive sexual education,
I think kids should start this education young, I’m not talking of porno videos for 10 yr olds but kids need to understand what is going to happen to their bodies, hormones and emotions well before they even start to kick in.
Then maybe when some get in sexual situations at 12, they will know what the consequences are, what to be aware of and what to avoid.

If kids are going to have sex, they will go and do it. Surely it’s better to warn them rather than making is a big secret. Kids always want to find out secrets.
Do parents really want them to get pregnant while finding out?

PS How can religion preach abstinence while also preaching family and especially the focus on having children.

You know, some parents would be horrified to hear you say that but there are children out there having sex that young. I remember there was a rumor going around our primary school that a nine year old boy had sex with an older girl in one of the bathrooms. If I had a teen I would rather they have protected sex with my knowledge then shove abstinence down their throat and they sneak around behind me having unsafe sex and wind up pregnant, or worse.

1ove, Levi's Bristol's boyfriend right? I haven't been following it closely but what a lucky break for him I guess. Getting famous off of Sarah Palin...'s daughter?

Indeed, when we were eleven in sixth grade, the boys said their locker room was shut down for the day because someone found a couple used condoms on the floor. That was years ago. I read in the LA Times the day after Christmas in 2006 that there's ten year olds carrying Louis Vuitton and stuff now. Thirteen is like the new eighteen.

Yeah, Levi Johnston. They called off their engagement in March of this year and he took off, so no more boyfriend/fiancé. He said that he doesn't even like or hang around Palins anymore, and he's writing a memoir... about... guess! Nah, we already know: parenting, high school, and Hollywood! Critics loved that one, "First the Palins used him, now he's using them?" He's already clearly stated that he wouldn't vote Sarah in anymore and does not trust her political choices/actions.

I'm not sure why teens always want to hide it from their parents. It's like when you cut or when you find out you're pregnant. How can you tell people? Bristol said it was the hardest thing she'd ever did, she doesn't even want to remember and she no longer can.

Neil, it is simple. Sex is a wonder gift, to be enjoyed within the confines of marriage, NOT outside of it. IE, sex between man and wife is good. There is no contradiction between abstinence for teens and non-abstinence for married couples. Nice try though.

I also find that I have to correct a HUGE misunderstanding a lot of you have with Christianity. You seem to think that all Christians are like the Duggars, when we are not. In fact, I don't know of a single Protestant denomination that doesn't fully accept pre-fertilization methods of birth control. The official Catholic position is no birth control but the calendar method, but Catholicism is not Christianity as a whole, and there has been a great deal of generalization, some accidental, some no doubt deliberate, to imply that every Christian believes the same thing about birth control, inside of marriage and outside.

Regarding Bristol Palin...it wasn't the education that failed, it was Bristol Palin. She is the one who made the conscious decision not to listen, and then regretted her decision. It was Bristol's choice to go against it. If a child goes against a parent's explicit wishes, and then comes to regret it, how is that the fault of the parent?

Well, then it's SOME Christians who believe that. That's their reason to have children, which in turn makes up a small percentage of why some people have kids. I'm not a Christian, so I wouldn't know.

Yeah it saddens me to see young children dressed like mini Paris Hiltons when they should be dressing their Barbies but it's mostly the parents that encourage it so there's not much to say.

I wish him all the best with his book. I wish I could write a book and get famous seeing as I have no singing or acting talents XD. I'm glad she didn't win and I hope she never does but I'm kinda disappointed she quit because I wanted the next round to be Sarah vs. Hilary.

Why do teens hide it... based on my experiences, because they think their parents are going to kill them. I hid alot from my mother because she was old-fashioned and very strict. She was also over-protective and I had to sneak around and do things behind her back. Teens don't want to make their parents angry so they don't tell them and try to hide it.

Again, that makes it an individual choice, which is what I stated originally.

Yeah, sorry. I was still typing my reply to 1ove's post at the same time you and 1ove replied.

Duggars must of been Catholic, then. I was referring to these huge families as examples. It's not a personal choice if they thought that was part of the religion, or the minister dude told them.



It doesn't work out, though. When something goes wrong, you are FUCKED! It's like when you know you cheated the law. If they one day ask why you're registered the wrong way or show up at the door, you're done! Maybe the lucky ones got out.

As a teenage parent myself, I have to say that I believe it is okay as long as the BOTH teenage parents (because last time I checked, humans don't reproduce asexually yet) are willing to step up and take responsiblity. Of course, I sometimes wish that it never happened, but I always wonder how I could wish that every time I see my baby girl. I love her, and I would never give her up.

Also, I am the child of a teenage parent. (my mom had my twin and I when she was only TWELVE!) My mom was responsible about it though and gave us up for adoption.

Yeah, police came to our house once and he got a summons in the mail on another occasion for speeding. That was how my mom found out but he never told her. She was rightly pissed but it wasn't the end of the world. Some parents are alot more understanding than teens give them credit for. Sure it sucks being grounded but at least they care enough about you to offer discipline when you step out of line.

You really don't want to know what teenagers get upto.

Generations getting worse and worse these days. At least we made it out of high school okay. My principal said, "If I had to go back to high school, I doubt I would of graduated. It's hard now."

Twelve? Well, at least she had the sense to put the kids in better homes.

She did have some sense. I've visited her a few times.

That's a long way going, though. Selena Gomez's mother is thirty-two now and her daughter is seventeen. So if you're nineteen, your mom would be barely thirty-one.

Very true. My mom ended up having five kids before she even reached 18.

Even there, you are making a huge generalization. The wikipedia article states they are "quiverfull" Christians, a really small fringe group that does believe they should have as many kids as possible. They have been deeply criticized by both protestant and catholics alike. IE, they are completely non-mainstream, and do not even start to represent Christianity as a whole, in the same why fringe groups of ANY type don't represent any particular grouping. (IE, skinheads do not represent all white people, black militants do not represent all black people, Al Queda does not represent all muslims, etc)

It's not a generalization if you told me that it's mostly Catholics who do that. I'm not a Christian (as already stated), so I took your word for it. I didn't know they were Quiverfull. Now I do.