<p>this is a big Catholic area. Also, there are no disincentives for them, they see it as a fun kind of activity with friends.</p>
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<p>I found this to be the most disturbing part.</p>
<p>Juno was indeed released last fall. Most of the girls I know that age thought the movie was awesome. (actually, so did most of the professional critics.)</p>
<p>pmrlcomm is really in denial if he/she thinks that a movie couldn’t have an impact on adolescent behavior. It is a known fact that adolescents mimic behavior from movies and television. They also mimic behavior from music idols and movie stars.</p>
<p>PS. I wonder if pmrlmom has a daughter that age. (I do.) I am careful about what she watches and how she behaves (at least in my presence). I do agree that parental influence is critical. However, not everyone provides that. Peer pressure is also unbelievable at that age, particularly to some “insecure” girls such as described in some of the Gloucester articles that I have read. It is possible that the peer pressure sometimes outweighs the “abhorrent” parental negligence.</p>
<p>Agreed. I am shocked how this part was sort of ignored for a while, Venkat89.</p>
<p>“I am shocked how this part was sort of ignored for a while”</p>
<p>I have been ignoring it because most teen moms who get pregnant deliberately – and that’s 1/3 to 1/2 of them, depending on whom you ask – state this as the reason. If you’ve worked with them, this is something you just learn to take for granted.</p>
<p>That’s the reason plenty of people in their 20’s and 30’s have children, too.</p>
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Right - just the way they love their mothers unconditionally . . .</p>
<p>Chedva - my thoughts exactly.</p>
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<p>Obviously you didn’t read the previous posts. I have been through that age. I know full well the impact of music, television and movies. That being said, in the vast majority of cases, if a parent does their job properly, which I’m assuming you do, then that stuff can’t have this type of impact. The kids obviously have blame in this…I fault the parents even more. The movie is blameless.</p>
<p>Hanna:
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<p>I would do the same. This is certainly an unfortunate situation, but the best case scenario for what happens next is that the girls experience the natural consequence that should go with their choice. Being a single mother at 16 ot 17, with a baby who is ready for action 24/7, will be a sobering reality. Hopefully they can all rise to the occasion and make the best of the terribly difficult predicament that they have put themselves in.</p>
<p>That being said, if I had a daughter in this situation, I have to confess that it would be so very challenging for me to allow her to experience the full ramifications of her poor decision-making (to do what I feel I should, to allow her to struggle and really grow up). I can only hope that I would be able to muster the strength to do it. I LOVE babies (who doesn’t?), and how terribly painful it will be for parents to watch both their child and grandchild struggle with having less than they should have under better circumstances.</p>
<p>Of course the NY Times has to quote someone who says, “we really let these kids down”. Reminds me of the “it takes a Village” quote. Why are these things always blamed on other people besides the ones who purposefully get pregnant? THis happens all the time in our community which is supposedly very upscale. The mothers (my age, early 50’s) jump right in and take care of the “next generation” while the birth mothers go on about their lives. I’ll never ever understand it.</p>
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<p>Dang, I could’ve sworn I had free will when I was 16…!</p>
<p>What cretins.</p>
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<p>I don’t know about faulting the parents. Granted, we don’t know what the home lives of these girls were like, but it’s possible that these girls just decided to be stupid even though they had competent committed parents. For example, we sometimes read on this board about some kid who had a great college acceptance in hand and then did something stupid and got expelled.</p>
<p>I guess with all the foolish teenaged behavior we see, my first instinct is to assume that the parents were not at fault. It’s possible that I am erring on the other side, but that’s just my gut reaction.</p>
<p>How can you blame the parrents. I’m sure every American teen has been given the resourses to understand the consequences of pregnancy. It’s def. the girls fault.</p>
<p>“we sometimes read on this board about some kid who had a great college acceptance in hand and then did something stupid and got expelled.”</p>
<p>Not the same. And those kids, the middle class ones with the great college acceptances? They know it’s not the same, and that’s why they’re not pregnant (or at least, they are definitely not pregnant on purpose with the intent to raise the child). In the grand scheme of things, being expelled from high school is really no big deal. Parenting in high school is a big deal.</p>
<p>My father, who raised four girls including a high school dropout, has a mantra when he’s giving advice to parents of teens. “When your kid comes to you to tell you bad news, just keep in mind…as long as no one is pregnant, the problem can always be fixed.” And unless your kid has committed a violent felony, that’s generally true. Fixing the problem may be expensive, humiliating, time-consuming, infuriating…but in ten years you’ll be chuckling at the memory. With these girls…it’s over.</p>
<p>Without proper education more girls will do the same. Unfortunately politicians will take tax payers money and fund these girls and their babies. This is nothing new, I see this story keep repeating in our school districts. After few days, business will go as usual. THis is just a headline story./ Hopwever if this girls have no money handed down from government, they will not do so. It is very sad.</p>
<p>Worst explanation I heard was " some say it’s due to the economic downturn in Goucester." This was on MSNBC yesterday. I am not making this up.</p>
<p>It is really sad- because I have known girls who have so little sense of self that the most nurturing thing they can think of is to have a child and have some of that attention rub off on them. ( they also obviously have little clue to how much time and energy that child will require, not to mention that the child should have a right to parents who have their self esteem needs met elsewhere)</p>
<p>When I was in high school, few students planned to go to college, I don’t know any student who actually went to college out of state.
Our dreams were small, move out, get a job, buy a toyota corolla.
Not a lot beyond that.</p>
<p>It’s a self perpetuating cycle. How many parents who are in their teens, had parents who were in their teens?</p>
<p>We aren’t the only country who has this concern.
[Poverty</a> and Teen Pregnancy](<a href=“http://www.genderandhealth.ca/en/modules/poverty/poverty-teen-pregnancy-01.jsp]Poverty”>http://www.genderandhealth.ca/en/modules/poverty/poverty-teen-pregnancy-01.jsp)</p>
<p>Instead of condemning them for what they have done, we will support and sympathize with them because they are “single moms”. And this tragedy will be encouraged and thus repeated, as it has been before with other groups. </p>
<p>This is what happens when a society loses it’s sense of “shame”.</p>
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<p>It’s a catch-22. The other alternative is to not provide for the basic needs of the babies, and it isn’t their fault, after all.</p>
<p>Regarding the sense of shame… I think it’s sad that back in the day when there was a sense of shame, girls often placed their babies for adoption (and kept it all a big secret). Now, it is almost looked on as shameful to place your baby! There are so many childless couples out there who would love to be parents to an adopted baby, but these girls will undoubtedly decide to parent the babies themselves, and they are ill-equipped to do that.</p>
<p>Back to Juno…one thing I loved was when someone asked Juno if she had thought about raising the child herself. I think she said something along the lines of, “Me? I’m 16! I’m ill-equipped!”</p>