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ATLANTA (March 18) - Remember the baby boom? No, not the one after World War II. More babies were born in the United States in 2007 than any other year in the nation's history — and a wedding band made increasingly little difference in the matter.
The 4,317,119 births, reported by federal researchers Wednesday, topped a record first set in 1957 at the height of the baby boom.
While the fact that babies are being born outside of marriage is at 40%, it is the trend of of teen pregnancies that worries me. With pop stars like Brittany showing how "cool" it is to have babies without the skills to care for them, how can we convince these young girls that having a baby isn't the way to soothe their need for love?
Teen pregnancy is higher than ever, but the statistics that I found troublesome is that hispanics have the highest number of births in this country, and unwed women 30 to 40 is way high.
No amount of education has slowed the teen pregnancy rate. Disturbing. What the educators are doing isn't working.
Hispanics are multiplying faster than any other group. YIKES. A HUGE number of those births are to illegal immigrants having their anchor babies.
Women 30 - 40 unwed is not only contributing to the population explosion (I know, here's my chin, go ahead and hit it), it sets an awful example for teens who see older women doing it and having babies out of wedlock, why shouldn't they?
I can think of 3 people I know who are in their mid-thirties or older and chose to have babies out of wedlock. I don't mean they chose to keep them after getting pregnant. I mean they planned the pregnancies without getting married first. It isn't always irresponsible teens. Some actually do it this way on purpose. Interesting trend. Not the way I would choose to do it.
Teen pregnancy is higher than ever, but the statistics that I found troublesome is that hispanics have the highest number of births in this country, and unwed women 30 to 40 is way high.
No amount of education has slowed the teen pregnancy rate. Disturbing. What the educators are doing isn't working.
Hispanics are multiplying faster than any other group. YIKES. A HUGE number of those births are to illegal immigrants having their anchor babies.
Women 30 - 40 unwed is not only contributing to the population explosion (I know, here's my chin, go ahead and hit it), it sets an awful example for teens who see older women doing it and having babies out of wedlock, why shouldn't they?
The only way to change it is to change social norms. Problem is....many people feel that society becoming more "open minded" is the best thing and I see it continuing to get worse and worse. Until we actually bring back some morals, it'll never get better.
The only way to change it is to change social norms. Problem is....many people feel that society becoming more "open minded" is the best thing and I see it continuing to get worse and worse. Until we actually bring back some morals, it'll never get better.
Amen , Amen Amen . Parents need to start enforcing morals instead of turning the head the other way .
The bottom line is that no one knows what exactly is influencing teen pregnancies. Cheap shots at Britney Spears or anyone else is easy to make, but in actuality no one yet knows the biggest contributing factors. Even the article the OP provides a link for speculates a laundry list of possible factors. Singling out someone like Britney Spears simply because she is younger is a bit of a stretch when you consider entities like TLC for promoting The Duggars, Jon and Kate, etc. along with all the other birth shows on cable. Then again, as the article points out it could also be something as simple as failure to use contraception effectively. Clearly many groups don't want sex education taught in school and don't do an adequate job of it at home either.
Amen , Amen Amen . Parents need to start enforcing morals instead of turning the head the other way .
Yes. But it's not just parents...I'd say the media plays a HUGE role as well. As much as censorship goes against what I believe in, I'd like to see some more limits on what is in TV, movies, video games, etc.
At the bare minimum a national rating system that's actually a part of the law (and not done by a private agency as is now) and parental control options built in to TV's, computers, video game consoles, etc.
The only way to change it is to change social norms. Problem is....many people feel that society becoming more "open minded" is the best thing and I see it continuing to get worse and worse. Until we actually bring back some morals, it'll never get better.
I agree. Parents are way too permissive these days, and don't make sure kids understand there are consequences to their actions.
Also, I think dads don't spend enough time at home actually fathering their daughters. That's a HUGE factor in teen pregnancy.
Parents are too worried about the bottom line instead of raising their kids.
Another part of the problem is the parents of these kids do not really have morals themselves. Many people in their 30's and 40's even have gotten the clue that sex is "cool" and that unconvential families are the new trend.
The only way to change it is to change social norms. Problem is....many people feel that society becoming more "open minded" is the best thing and I see it continuing to get worse and worse. Until we actually bring back some morals, it'll never get better.
I totally agree with this. Many parents today have no expectations for their kids to live up to. It's all about being "tolerant" and "realistic."
Another factor (and I've already got on my flame-proof suit, don't worry!) is that there is very little parental supervision anymore. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen year olds still need a parent to know where they are, who they are with, and what they are doing. Someone (whom I suspect is very young him/herself) suggested that being an at home parent is "silly" when the kids are teenagers... on the contrary, perhaps an at home parent who is truly involved with what his or her child is doing would prevent much of the mischief that teens get into!
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