[Ninastar]

Has anyone else noticed a huge increase in teenage mothers? My god, I hate them so much.
I really hate girls that think it's okay to have a baby at 18 or younger. It's most likely that they don't have a job, and wont work after they have the baby either. More than 60% of the time, the girl wont stay with the father.

What I think I hate the most, is how glorified it is. I mean of course they get hate for it, but everyone talks about how brave they are and they get so much praise for it. TV shows don't help much at all.

what do you think about teenage mothers? I mean i'm sure there are some that are decent...

[Ninastar]

p.s if you are a teenage mother, i haven't meant to cause offence

[Doogle]

My thoughts on it are this: sure it's their decision to have children young but (and I know I'm only 14 so I don't want to try and sound like some older person) you have a whole future ahead, you have years to be free and do what you want to do, go through life, make mistakes, then eventually settle down and get to the stage where you feel mature and ready for children. Too many teenage mothers are not ready and I don't think they realise the responsibility of having a baby (again, I'm no expert, going by what pretty much everyone says). They should really go out or just do whatever they want to enjoy themselves before being tied down with such a massive responsibility.

[Niamh.]

Accidents happen and some deal with it very well, but it's not ideal for either the baby or the mother. I don't like the way it seems to have been glorified either. That story in EEs with Lola getting pregnant at 15 is a prime example of the way some teenage girls seem to think about getting pregnant.

[MTVN]

I looked at a Facebook profile of this girl who used to be in my year and I realised that she's gone and had twins now (back when she was 17) with a 15 year old who isn't even her boyfriend, I find it crazy to think she's the same age as me and has had kids already. And then all the comments on Facebook telling her how proud she should be and stuff and I'm just thinking Someone else in my school had a kid when she was 13/14 and it's with Social Services which shows how unready she was I guess

In a way I sympathise, I don't think they really think through everything properl, it's not like they're doomed to failure either, I'm sure a lot of teens are great parents and genuinely able to look after a kid but I'm not sure if that's the case for the majority, I don't think it's a great age to have children at at all

[Firewire]

Someone I know is a teenage mother. She fell pregnant at 14. She's a fantastic mother and sat her exams and is still at school. She's 17 now and her daughter is 18 months.

She's an amazing example of a good teenage mother, you guys don't know her though so can't really comment on it.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Firewire

Someone I know is a teenage mother. She fell pregnant at 14. She's a fantastic mother and sat her exams and is still at school. She's 17 now and her daughter is 18 months.

She's an amazing example of a good teenage mother, you guys don't know her though so can't really comment on it.

People have said (me included) that there are of course good teenage mothers. Again, accidents happen but the thing I have a problem with is teenagers who choose to have a baby when they don't have the financial means to support a child first of all and are really too young and immature to know how big an impact it will have on their lives, probably their parents lives and also a new babies life.

[Livia]

I don't know what a teenager could possibly think they have to offer a child. I'm sure teenagers on here think they're already well-rounded people, but I know the older members will remember when they themselves were teenagers and thought they knew everything.

I know mistakes happen, but not on the volume they seem to be happening, unless IQs have dropped sharply in the last couple of decades. While I don't think teenage mothers should be thrown onto the streets, neither do I think they should be instantly rewarded with benefits and social accommodation. I also think the fathers should be made to pay for their offspring.

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by Livia

I don't know what a teenager could possibly think they have to offer a child. I'm sure teenagers on here think they're already well-rounded people, but I know the older members will remember when they themselves were teenagers and thought they knew everything.

I know mistakes happen, but not on the volume they seem to be happening, unless IQs have dropped sharply in the last couple of decades. While I don't think teenage mothers should be thrown onto the streets, neither do I think they should be instantly rewarded with benefits and social accommodation. I also think the fathers should be made to pay for their offspring.

Yeah it's just a tricky and difficult situation.

With teenagers, they hardly know who they are. In my opinion, having children is something you should do when you know what you actually want from life.

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by Novo

Compared to about 10 years ago the difference is huge... you could go to town and see a few people with pushchairs but now it's nearly impossible for you not to see one, what really gets me is seeing wasters who can't provide for the kids they already have get pregnant every year like it's some sort of chore when some woman who want a baby a lot lot more and for more genuine reasons can't give birth

Exactly, it just annoys me so much.

Originally Posted by Jordan.

My mum was a teenage mother and shes worked full time since she left school, bought her own house and was with my dad for 13 years and i'd say me and my sister have had just as good if not better upbringing than a lot of my close friends with older parents. It's just a shame now a lot of teen parents tend to be your typical orange slag. But there are a few good ones out there.

Like novo said, it's alot more common now. I think your mum is a good example of a teenage mother, but unfortunately there are very few nowadays.

Originally Posted by Niamh.

People have said (me included) that there are of course good teenage mothers. Again, accidents happen but the thing I have a problem with is teenagers who choose to have a baby when they don't have the financial means to support a child first of all and are really too young and immature to know how big an impact it will have on their lives, probably their parents lives and also a new babies life.

Yeah I agree. It's not fair on the child, it really isn't. I don't think teenage mothers think about that though.

[GypsyGoth]

I don't think the state should financially support teenage moms.

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by GypsyGoth

I don't think the state should financially support teenage moms.

neither do I.

[Kerry]

Originally Posted by GypsyGoth

I don't think the state should financially support teenage moms.

yes, the streets are much nicer for babies and new parents

[Kerry]

Yes, some teens use having babies as an "easy" (if anyone of you know's what it's like to have children - I doubt it) ride. But they take that route anyway and will sponge. Those being the ones that give the rest a bad name

Many, those that they DON'T make TV shows about, do well

[Bluerang1]

I don't like it. And the fact that they're uneducated on how babies are made. I have one in a class, biology, and she's was just learning about mitosis, meiosis etc. They don't even know how their child is formed yet they have one or sex. What you gonna do though? It's their life. Feel sorry for them though, guys never get the blame.

[Omah]

MANY teenage mothers are either ignorant or have been grossly misinformed about sex - the rest are just stupid .....

None of them should receive help from the state and the fathers (if old enough!) should be prosecuted .....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage...United_Kingdom

Teenage pregnancy in the United Kingdom is a long-standing social phenomenon. The only other western country with comparable teenage pregnancy rates is the United States.

Comparative pregnancy rate

The United Kingdom currently has the highest teenage birth rate in Western Europe. Over the last fifty years the proportion of teenagers and in particular those under the age of 16 who have experienced sexual intercourse has increased dramatically. The 2001 survey of sexual attitudes and lifestyles revealed that over 90% of teenagers had experience of sexual intercourse and around a quarter had before the age of 16. Though with the increase in the proportion having intercourse, there has also been an increase in the knowledge and use of contraception, through sex education and the upsurge in family planning clinics.

Change in pregnancy rate over time

Births to teenagers increased during the 1960s and peaked in 1971 at 50.6 per thousand of the population. Since 1971 they have gradually fallen to their lowest level since the mid Fifties. The proportion occurring outside marriage has increased from around one in six in the 1950s to nine in every ten in 2006. Teenage abortion rates are currently at their highest rate since legalisation in 1968. Although the number of conceptions are falling the proportion ending in abortion has increased over the last ten years.

Geographic variation in pregnancy rate

High teenage pregnancy rates are found in areas with low GCSE exam success such as Nottingham, Kingston upon Hull, Doncaster, Barnsley, Middlesbrough, Manchester (highest), Sandwell, Bristol, Stoke on Trent, Bradford, North East Lincolnshire, and Blackpool. In 1997, A study revealed that there was a north and south divide in the rate of conceptions to under 18s. With the highest rates and proportion leading to maternity being in the north of Britain and the lowest rates with the highest proportion leading to abortion, being in the south, with London being the exception having both high rates of conception and those leading to an abortion.

[Benjamin]

Originally Posted by Omah

MANY teenage mothers are either ignorant or have been grossly misinformed about sex - the rest are just stupid .....

None of them should receive help from the state and the fathers (if old enough!) should be prosecuted .....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage...United_Kingdom

But on the other side of the coin you forget how impressionable, infatuated and easily influenced younger people, especially girls cane be. An older male can 'brainwash'/pressure them into having sex and before they know it they are pregnant with a child. Obviously this does not apply to all. I actually know a girl (who was my friend) that went out of her way at 17 to get pregnant just so she didn't have to work and the council would provide her with a house.

[Bollo]

I don't understand how having a baby at such a young age is seen as something to aspire to, i think it's more likely a lack of education and/ or family background in which these teenage pregnancies occur. If you have knowledge and a stable upbringing you are taught about contraception, morals, values etc and are more likely to understand that you need to experience a bit of life (i.e college / university, travelling, career, social, find the right partner etc) before you make the big commitment of having children

[nicole_burks]

You can't say the girls don't stay with the fathers.
Sometimes the father doesn't stay with the girls.
I know a lot of teenagers that have had babies, I don't agree with it but it's not like you can stop it or anything. :/

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by nicole_burks

You can't say the girls don't stay with the fathers.
Sometimes the father doesn't stay with the girls.
I know a lot of teenagers that have had babies, I don't agree with it but it's not like you can stop it or anything. :/

i don't care, whichever way it happens, they still don't stay together more than half the time

and I know i can't stop it, I just think it's getting ridiculous

[Ninastar]

These girls that have the kids at this age, they are still children themselves. They have no idea. I just can't see someone at this age being a good mum. How much do they do themselves anyway? Money wise how do they pay for their kid? The father, their parents? the state?

[InOne]

I knew a girl and she said her friends were actively wanting to get preggers at a young age. It's what has created this new underclass of kids growing up with their grandparents and parents never having jobs.

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by InOne

I knew a girl and she said her friends were actively wanting to get preggers at a young age. It's what has created this new underclass of kids growing up with their grandparents and parents never having jobs.

yeah it's called the cycle of deprivation i think, I remember learning about it in sociology

[InOne]

Originally Posted by Ninastar

yeah it's called the cycle of deprivation i think, I remember learning about it in sociology

It just annoys me when the mothers say they don't have enough money and stuff, yet they have the flat screen TV, internet, decent house, and can always afford cigs

[MTVN]

I don't see how cutting off potentially their only source of income in the form of State support will help anything, it will just make the situation even more difficult for the mother. You could say it would act as a disincentive to other teenagers not to get pregnant but it's still not fair to chuck teenage mothers under a bus just to try and prove some sort of a point, I think that very few go and get knocked up solely to receive State benefits