Glamorizing Teen Pregnancy

[hamsterjill]

Okay, serious question here.

Does anyone else here have a concern about teen pregnancy being glamorized by some of the recent events concerning the children of politicians, as well as young celebrities?

These wealthy teenagers make teen pregnancy seem so easy to navigate. You have the baby, of course, you promptly give it to the nanny that your parents pay for, you go on with your life, and all is well. In addition to that, you get a lot of classy attention because of the baby. The wealthy teen's life is hardly impacted, and in some cases (i.e., the attention) that life may even be enhanced.

However, in the real world, most teen parents barely scrape by, and it's usually only with the help from their parents, help that takes a very serious toll on family resources. Teens generally have difficulty finishing their education, getting a job and because of their immaturity, generally have trouble dealing with the loss of their expected social life when the reality of taking care of a helpless baby becomes evident. Teen marriages (if they do marry) fail overwhelmingly.

Anyone else see this as a real concern? Because I sure do.

And I think we climb on a slippery slope when we speak of NOT attacking someone's children personally. Certainly we do not want to attack minors, but neither do we as a society need to be glamorizing teen pregnancy when it happens. And I think that is what the extremists are doing right now.

[SheilaT]

1. Remember how

incensed Republicans were some time back over the fictional Murphy Brown's unwed pregnancy on a TV show? They complained bitterly about unwed pregnancy and motherhood being glamorized, and how many single moms simply didn't have the financial resources to properly raise a child, and that what a kid needed most of all was a mom and a dad (not two moms or two dads was unspoken but understood).

But when one of their own gets pregnant, it's glorified and glamorized and held up as a good family values situation.

The word hypocrisy doesn't quite cover it.