Ok, so I am one of those people that is unbelieveably addicted to 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. I watch it every week despite Jeremy's constant making fun of me for watching what he calls "tripe". I have to admit it is a dumb show and of course the dreaded reality T.V. The one thing I have realized is the amount of girls that are only 16 years old and are getting pregnant. Not only that but the amount of girls that are 16 , getting pregnant and think "oh this is gonna be a breeze" and then are upset when their boyfriends of the same age aren't up to the task of raising a baby or they have to give up everything they loved to do because they now have a child. What I want to know is, where did this world go wrong when it was ok to be a mom at 16? I love the show but I not only believe but also know that the show glorifies getting pregnant at a young age. Yeah it shows the hardships that these girls are going through and at the end of every episode they have their PSA about how teen pregnancy is preventable and to go to such and such a website to learn about it. My only problem is that if this show is supposed to deter teens from pregnancy then why have they been able to keep finding girls to keep the show going? So far they are in season 3 and I'm sure have season 4 in the works already.
Do we need to up the sex education in our schools to educate this generation about what can happen when you have unprotected sex? Do we need to hand out condoms/birthcontrol? Most of the girls on the show weren't even on any type of birth control and obviously not using condoms. Alot have said that they left the condoms up to their boyfriends and went along with it if they decided not to use them. Some of the parents on the show admitted that they knew that their children were having sex and still didn't talk with them about condoms and birth control because they didn't want their kids to think they thought it was ok for them to be having sex. Really?!?!?
We need to be open with our children about sex and realize that at some point and time in their teen years they are going to want to do it despite the fact that we don't approve of it. If we just sit back and ignore that fact that teens are out there having sex at 14,15,16 years old we are failing as parents and not teaching our children anything. Yes it's an embarrassing topic but so what. We need to make our kids aware of the consequences and responsibilities of being sexually active. We need to be open about birth control even though we don't approve of them having sex so young. We need to express that it is better to wait to have sex but that if they are going to do it then you will be there for them to educate them and advise them or just to talk. Sex has always been a taboo subject but I don't think it should be. We need to find a way to better educate our children and be more open with them to prevent the teen pregnancy epidemic that seems to be sweeping across not only our country but the rest of the world. We need to make it so that a show like 16 and Pregnant doesn't need to exist.
My son is only 7 months old but I already have the plan of being as open with him about sex as my parents were with me. I want him to be able to talk to me about his problems, questions and sex like I was able to with my parents. It wasn't always a comfortable situation but I always knew that they were there for me. I want my son to feel the same way. We need to end this epdemic of teen pregnancy whether it be with openess, education or just flat out offering up birth control when they hit puberty. Its not necessary but yet more and more teens everyday are getting pregnant so we are obviously not getting the message across. We need to come up with some ideas soon or we are all going to end up being grandparents way before our time. We need to educate or children and take the taboo off of the subject of sex if we want to make a difference.
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