I won't touch A LOT of what's been said...I will just pray that those of you who are in contact with these young women will continue, by your positive example, to drive the message home that the goal is to improve and challenge yourself FIRST, and that's much harder to accomplish as a young mom without the benefit of experience (waiting until you are ready to assume the consequences of sex); self-sufficiency/accomplishment (post-secondary education and a good job); and a solid, loving marriage (the ideal state in which all children SHOULD be born).
Our community needs to impress upon parents and kids the STANDARD for sexual involvement should be marriage or at least waiting until one is "grown" enough to accept ALL the consequences (STDs, emotional issues, pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, etc.). It seems we no longer value that standard as the norm, and our kids/community is paying for it, dearly.
The band-aids of young pregnant and parenting programs (several of which I support), while necessary, are not stemming the tide of girls in this situation, nor are they addressing the root causes of our girls' problems-poor parenting, inadequate education, lack of self-worth/esteem, inability/lack of resources to set and reach long-term goals, poverty, etc.
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