65 Girls at Area School Pregnant

Not being at all familiar with that area of the country, I can't make an intelligent comment. But I think in *any* school, that's a large number of high school girls to be pregnant!

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 02:20 pm:

Terrible, terrible...It is like this where we live in Indiana. IMO, regardless of what anyone wants to 'blame' it on, parents are responsible for how their children are raised. This article just reinforces the state of our country today! So sad.

By Cat on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 02:27 pm:

Sad I hope all those babies get good homes, either with their mothers, relatives or adoptive families.

By Vicki on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 02:42 pm:

Yikes, that is just a stones throw from my house!! Well, maybe more like 25 miles. We don't get that paper though. I can see how it could happen in that area. Alot of low income, single parent households and neighborhoods.

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 02:50 pm:

It's unthinkable how so many parents don't educate their children on the physical and emotional implications and consequences of having teen sex, the dangers of diseases and pregnancy, and, at the very least, proper birth control practices.

Just so incredibly sad.....babies having babies....these kids have no clue what a responsibility is lying ahead of them. And a lot of them are probably repeating what generations of their own families have done in the past.

I wish I knew the answer. It makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs - scream at all of them, try to get through to them.

Sorry - this is a subject that I feel strongly about.

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 03:01 pm:

With the decline in young moms, this is sad to hear. As a high school teacher, you don't know how many stories I hear of boys using Saran Wrap as "protection" and then bragging later about it.

What's sad is that there are so many resources that kids have and so much knowledge out there about the consequences of sex...it's so mind boggling.

I think most of the time it's the fact that girls feel "loved" and showered with attention in this way because that's what they think they need...ugh. They are so overwhelmed with the media, MTV, and the list goes on and on....

And, Deanna, you're right. The parents have GOT to be nosey nowadays. You don't know how many of the "good" kids make bad decisions too.

By Shann on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 03:22 pm:

between the ages of 11-19. 11 just gets me they are still babies. that is just sad sad. I agree the parents need to step in and be nosey. What age do you think that it is appropriate to talk to them about 6. Mine are 7 and 10 that should be a pretty good age to start discussing it. also anyone know any books or something that will help me..

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 03:39 pm:

Start now! Very basic, they will absorb as much as they can. And continue talking about it, as many times as you can work it into a conversation naturally. IMO you can't prepare them too much for that, that and the drugs/alcohol talks.

Many will disagree with me, but I think a picture is worth a thousand words - *field trips* to places where they can see what drugs/alcohol/unwanted teen pregnancies do to kids and their lives make a lasting impression. You can preach and preach, but actually seeing something sticks in your mind.

By Colette on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 03:58 pm:

Karen, I agree 100% and we have done that.

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 04:01 pm:

I saw this on someone's blog, and I'm disgusted. It comes out to like 1 in 7 girls. Does this prove that "abstinence only" sex ed is a bad idea?? It IS the parent's responsibility, but in a community that lacks strong parental influence (single parents, low income, etc) school is sometimes the only guidance a child gets. I feel strongly that I cannot stop my children from having sex as teens, but I CAN educate them on the dangers, the reasons NOT to, and the ways to have safer sex if they decide to do it anyway. Even with my teenaged BILs, (who are usually more open with us than their parents) we tell them why they shouldn't do it, but remind them to be safe if they do. They know they can come to us if they need help, no matter what.

By Marcia on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 04:18 pm:

Many young girls choose to get pregnant, so it's not just misinformation. They know that if they have a baby they get government funding. The more babies, the more money they get. Many girls choose to get pregnant because they want someone, meaning the baby, who will love them.
I'm certainly not saying that's true in every or even most cases, but it sure is a reality. A very sad reality.

By Reds9298 on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 04:37 pm:

Ditto Marcia unfortunately. Ditto Karen,I feel strongly about it too! I also just want to say that I do not live in an underprivileged area and this type of thing is all over the place. Sure there are poor, underage, single moms in my city, but they are in every city. This does not just affect "those" kinds of girls.

I don't think it's totally about parents being "nosey"...I think it's about raising moral, secure, active, ambitious children who have so many more things to do/things to accomplish than boyfriends and sex. It's also about building self-esteem and self-worth at the earliest age (especially for girls IMO) and having strong male role models their lives.

This is totally a blanket, general statement but overall I just don't think parents are around for their kids. (This is my experience.) Parents are more worried about making sure their kids look/dress a certain way for others, making sure they themselves are moving ahead professionally, and keeping up with the Jones', and making sure they are "friends" with their kids.

I have been working with low-income, single mom, very young families for years. They tell you EVEYRTHING and one common thread I have found for these moms is a)no strong family support and b)no dad around. Do you all see these commercials reminding people how to raise their kids? Like the ones about talking to them about smoking, about abstinence, about making sure you know where they are and what they're doing. It's a sad fact that we need COMMERCIALS to try to get parents to put their teens first. It's just another sad reason these girls find sex/guys/pregnancy to be more appealing than all of the other wonderful things to do in this world.

By Kaye on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 04:44 pm:

Well, I have lived near canton ohio and grew up in a similar small town in texas. The class below me had 14 students, I would guess 7 of htem girls, 3 were pregnant at graduation. The class above me had 2 pregnant at graduation (we had none..lol). Why were so many pg? Well there are two things you can do with friends in a small town you can drink and welll.... But they don't teach any sex ed in the schools, parents won't approve of that. Also most of the people in our town only had high school diplomas, high school was it. One girl in our class dropped out in 8th grade (i think she was a couple years old) to get married. So much depends on the culture of people, and I think education level makes a difference too. Most people with college degrees have kids older, whereas if you don't go to college people get married younger and have kids younger. Especially in our society where sex is everywhere we can't just keep our kids in a bubble about it!

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 05:10 pm:

My kids know that they shouldn't. Sarah, 16, is still not all that interested in boys. She and her friends are more concerned about good grades and doing stuff with band. Emily, 13, still thinks all that stuff is gross! They are pretty busy with various activities and stuff.

Everytime, one of those drug commercials come on when we're in the car, I look at my kids and say, "Drugs? Don't do 'em!" My kids just roll their eyes and laugh! They think drugs are icky, too!

By Jelygu on Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 09:40 pm:

That is horrible! I really think parents should educate more, and I agree 100% with everything you said Karen! My mom drilled me all the time about drugs, drinking and sex. It worked because I was 20 before I had my first drink, and although that is still illegal, it was WAY older than most of my friends. Hopefully I will be able to do as good a job with Christopher.

By Feona on Thursday, August 25, 2005 - 07:27 am:

I didn't think there was welfare anymore. I thought there was only the five year welfare. Just amazing. Of course they lock up the pregnancy test at CVS near the local HS so you know the same thing is happening around here. I asked them why and they said the hs students were stealing the preg tests.

By Bellajoe on Thursday, August 25, 2005 - 08:55 am:

oh man! When i opened that link and saw my local news station, that was a suprise! Canton is about an hour or so away from me.

It is sad when so many girls are pregnant. I feel sorry for those 65 babies.

By Karen~moderator on Thursday, August 25, 2005 - 11:01 am:

Marcia, you're right that Many girls choose to get pregnant because they want someone, meaning the baby, who will love them, and that is the saddest of all, IMO. And many of these young girls/women who are having baby after baby because they get more money for each child are doing this because that's how they were brought up. There MUST be some way to break that cycle! In that, I agree with Crystal, It IS the parent's responsibility, but in a community that lacks strong parental influence (single parents, low income, etc) school is sometimes the only guidance a child gets. It's unfortunate, but it's very true!

By Heaventree on Thursday, August 25, 2005 - 12:00 pm:

Wow, with that many girls pregnant, I guess that means these children are not using any form of safe sex measures. I wonder what the rate of sexually transmitted disease is in the total school population. Scary stuff.

We have an 11 year old girl that lives next door to us. She has completely changed in the last year. Last summer she was a pudgy little girl, this year at 11 she looks like and acts like she is 18 years old. I didn't recognize her the other day, again scary stuff.