Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

I think your absolutely right.

I've nothing against young mothers, but there seems to be a whole section of society who see their only, or at least the easiest option, as being to get pregnant as quickly as possible, and as some sort of bizarre career choice funded by the state, and at a time when in reality there has never been so many opportunities in life. That to me seeems very sad.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

Parenting is one of the hardest jobs in the world and yet it is expected that everyone can do it without training.

Modern medicine is halting evolution meaning that the stupid and useless don't die like they would have done and instead reproduce.

Also take a look at the fact the most common illness in the UK is depression, what happens to the children who are raised by these people - it's bound to have an impact

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

That's rather harsh.

You could say an education for all policy has done the same thing...if you were a bit of a crypto-fascist, I suppose.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

Way back when, people of lower classes reproduced in droves, and often ended up in either the workhouse, an institution, or the gutter.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

i know through me daughter that there is at least some training now sam, with looking after babies, where it was nil when she was a baby, its not parental training thats the problem, its training in respect n things, n how to behave in public etc etc, ya can be a real dummy, but still have good manners, that impacts on the growing child just as swearing n no respect does.:)

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

I said it from an objective viewpoint, harsh but when you take away the compassion for an individual it is true.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

Some training for some people but by no means to all those who need it. And the difference being that back in your day a kid would have 2 parents who would have 2 parents. That's a team of 6 people + extended family compared to one single mother with the only support being from a mother who made the same mistake, if that.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

not so, both my parents were dead before my eldest was 3, n very ill before that, the late wife only had a mum who was agoraphobic, lovely woman but not very well. my daughter is a single mother also.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

Would agree with that to some extent, was a time when extended family came in to play. Not in my case though may I add. And you just sort of got on with it, you learned as you went along. It's all well and good knowing the basics about feeding and changing nappies etc, but there are deeper issues to bringing up children, and every child is different.

The main issue in discussion though is stopping the pregnancies in the first place, regardless of feckless parents.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

Some varied and interesting answers but all most seem to be focusing on the young mums, when did the dads drop out of the equation? Does anybody know what age the children are bombarded with sex education? Seems to me kids aren't kids for any length of time now. Ok a young child might get curious as to where their brother/sister came from, what is wrong with telling them "out of mummys tummy" which isn't a lie. Why do they need to know at such a young age all the facts of life? Seems to me that they know the facts of life whilst still believing in Father Christmas. For goodness sake let them be kids.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

Fair enough comment about the dads Bernie, but the reality is it's the girls that carry the can, or quite often the tax payer.

Learning about sex at an early age? They should just have their questions answered when they ask them, but I would say in a factual way.

The bottom line is instilling morals and manners at an early age, and teaching youngsters that they have other things to aspire to, rather than embarking on parenthood at an early age. But this won't happen unless we nip the constant drip of apathy from certain sections of our society in the bud. We need to start with kids early on, whatever that entails, whatever agencies involved, else we will get no where, and the problem will only get worse.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

Aye my point was basically there was a greater sense of family, religion and community and generally more non-state-sponsored support.

And the thing about the topic being about stopping the pregnancies and not the feckless parents, the preganancies are due to the feckless parents of those who get pregnant, it is their job to educate them and instill the sense of responsibility, you get that and the pregnancies drop.

As to the "what happened to the father" argument, it isn't an equal responsibility when it comes to parenthood. What happens to the fathers opinion when it comes to keeping the child or not ? It doesn't exist. Add to that the fact that the type of girl who is getting pregnant is unlikely to only have one "candidate" for the father.

The way I've been brought up has been that your children are the most important thing in your life and the way I look at it I can't do my best for them until I mature and get a solid job and so until then contraception is the way to go. The scary thing is that it would almost be acceptable for me and my girlfriend to have a child despite the fact we are only just turning 19 because we have been together since we were 16, however I know neither of us are nowhere near ready to become parents and we are both (without any false modesty) considerably intelligent people.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

girls need to be educated to realise that motherhood is not a career.....this would be easier if the benefits system didn't hand out houses and money to these youngsters so easily.
Another poster pointed out the early sexualisation of children too(girls, mainly)....this has got to be an influence too.......have you seen some of the magazines that are aimed at 11 and 12 year olds?
Society in general, has to find some morals again, and if it doesn't then there will be no solution to this problem.

I know that there are some teen mothers who make a good job of motherhood, and then go on to complete their education......and I applaud those youngsters, but in the main the teenage mothers are potty mouthed and feckless(this is from my own observation).....and almost see a baby as fashion accessory.....not a responsibility for the rest of their lives.

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

Got to agree Bernie. There are one or two on here who were brought up in the Swinging Sixties, and I can remember girls getting pregnant in those days too, but the difference is that in those days quite a lot of the "fathers" didn't do a runner they got married, it was seen as the thing to do in those days. Even so can't remember to many school kids getting pregnant. With this in mind is sex education actually the answer, we didn't get it in school, there were no teachers showing us the art of how to put a condom on. I think we must remember that in our day there were no mags for girls, some of which are a bit strong for 18 year olds let alone 10 or 11 year olds, there was no Internet where all kinds of sexual material can be accessed. Unfortunately its a problem that's not going to go away anytime soon, I don't think that any one has the answer and that's why the problem is increasing and the more its highlighted in the media the worse it will get. There is an old saying "No News is Good News" maybe it might be an idea to keep these problems out of the headlines as highlighting them and rabbiting on about it doesn't seem to have made a blind bit of distance, if anything its exacerbated the problem:(

Re: ~Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In The County
 

To be honest I really don't think this is the case, at least in the majority of teen pregnancies, I know countless girls who have had kids over the last few years and none of them have done it purposefully, and I'm even talking about the ones who are "utterly feckless".