the case of the repeat teenage mother...

what is it with 16 year old girls having babies and being so damn proud??

there are COUNTLESS myspace and facebook profiles of girls who are pregnant, and are like, super pumped about it. or at least act that way. they post pictures of their pregnant bellies, and all their friends go on and post comments saying

"omg your belly is soooo cuuute!!!"

now, don't get me wrong. i understand that "accidents can happen" and all that jazz, and obviously when a girl becomes pregnant, keeping it or not is her choice. but many, MANY of these girls, who are 16 or 17 are having their SECOND CHILD.

having one teenage pregnancy, though almost always due to poor choices and being ignorant of many years of health class, can be sympathized with. as i said, accidents happen, people make mistakes, and so on.

but the same mistake twice?

what ever happened to learning lessons? once you get accidentally pregnant the first time, wouldn't you from then on try a little harder to be sure you are having safe sex?

did these girls not realize how much work babies are with the FIRST ONE? i'm going to fathom a guess and speculate that these girls' parents are being
a) a little too lenient
b) a little too helpful

if your kid has a baby, and you pay for everything, and help take care of it all the time, and not make your child take any of the responsibility, then what are they going to learn?

they will learn that having a baby is not that big of a deal, and doing it again before the age of twenty will be no sweat. if that 16 year old can have the fun of a baby, the joy of having her friends fawn all over the various facebook photos of the kids latest tooth, AND still go out and party while mom watches little baby when ever they want, then clearly having another one isn't going to psyche them out.

clearly they aren't going to worry about protecting themselves better in future sexual exploits. when a teenager gets pregnant and decides to keep it, they are choosing the biggest responsibility of a lifetime. am i saying that the parent should abandon their teen and say

"good luck honey, hopefully you and your offspring won't die on the street."

no

but i do suspect that parents have a tendency to help a little too much because they desperately desire to have their daughter stay in school. they know, that if she doesn't finish high school at least, she has no future, or at least a dismal one.

but isn't it a problem when a 17 year old, who is almost an adult, can't see that? if they are adult enough to carry a child, give birth to that child, and then raise that child, they are adult enough to make other adult decisions.

isn't it a problem, when a parent tries harder to make their grown child's future than the child them self?

if you're adult enough to raise a baby, aren't you adult enough to say

"ok, we're using a condom this time"

jeeeze.