Teen pregnancy is not cool. I don't care how many MTV shows they make or how many cute baby shirts you buy. Having a baby when you're barely a legal adult (or still legally a child!) is a bad idea.
It seems as though every day, I hear about another friend from elementary school that's had a kid or gotten married (typically just the former, but occasionally the latter follows). How ridiculous is that? I tell my friends at college that I have a ton of friends with children, and they look at me like I've got two heads. It's hard for them to fathom a community where that's okay, accepted, and even embraced! At this rate, I'm going to be one of a very small minority at a ten-year reunion without a kid in second or third grade. Maybe by that point I'll have an infant. Maybe.
I talked to my mom last night, and heard that another girl from my town has ended up pregnant at a very young age. And that's when it hit me. It's not "something in the water". It's that we grew up in a town where there is absolutely nothing to do, and we received no sex education whatsoever. You know what they teach in health classes? Abstinence is drilled into us, and then we watch a short video from the 70s that talks about pregnancy prevention. But there is an overwhelming feeling that it's abstinence or nothing. And that's obviously not working. I can't even count the amount of my peers, people that I've known since elementary school, that are now parents.
I know that some of them are extremely happy with their lives. And I think that's amazing. But I wonder if they realize what they gave up. The possibility of travel, or college, or actually having enough time to grow up and learn about themselves and who they are and what it means to be an adult.
Could I take care of a baby? If it came to that, probably. I would work 40+ hours per week and live with my mom. I would be able to provide for my child. But would I be the kind of parent that my child deserves? I don't think so. I don't know myself well enough to be able to give my all to another person.
And don't get me wrong. I love kids. I can't wait until I get married and have kids. But is it a responsible decision at this point in my life, or at any point within at least the next 7 years? No way. I want to have an established career, a home, enough money to know that I can buy the stroller and the toys and the books that my child deserves for their health and happiness and future. I want to be in a rock-solid marriage that I know for certain will last, because my child doesn't deserve having to go through the pain of divorced parents.
That's really it. It just makes me sick to keep hearing about more babies.
No comments:
Post a Comment