Maternity leave sought for teen girls

[nikki1920]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

Do you really think that teenagers get pregnant because they don't know how babies are made or don't know they can buy condoms at the store?

I said that because this adminstration seems hell bent on keeping ALL the information about contraception from kids. It could be both reasons, for all I know ("you can't get pregnant the first time you have sex, etc. type of reasonings).

I do think that there should be some other format to keep teen PARENTS in school (not just mom, but dad too).

I was up and about two days after giving birth (with an uncomplicated vaginal birth). I was able to resume normal daily actvities about 2 weeks later. Four weeks is a bit much I think for a regular birth, but it depends on the mom's and baby's condition, post partum.

AF: *applause*
lol..

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by nikki1920

I said that because this adminstration seems hell bent on keeping ALL the information about contraception from kids. It could be both reasons, for all I know ("you can't get pregnant the first time you have sex, etc. type of reasonings).

I do think that there should be some other format to keep teen PARENTS in school (not just mom, but dad too).

I was up and about two days after giving birth (with an uncomplicated vaginal birth). I was able to resume normal daily actvities about 2 weeks later. Four weeks is a bit much I think for a regular birth, but it depends on the mom's and baby's condition, post partum.

AF: *applause*
lol..

What does the federal administration really have to do with what sex ed program a district or state uses? The most they could do is not offer additional federal funding for other programs which isn't the same as prohibiting them. The vast majority of education funding in at the state level. I think a lot of people don't really understand it's kind of a supplementary kind of think funding through welfare, as near as I can tell. School districts can still do whatever, unless STATE law prohibits it.

Do you really think we'd have had fewer teen pregnancies if Kerry had won? Really?? So who in the present field of candidates can be depended on to get the kids to wrap it up?

[PsychTau2]

Wouldn't delivering a baby fall under the school's "major medical incident" policy or something like that? How do they treat a student who had their appendix removed? Or some other type of surgery? Seems like that could apply in the pregnancy situation as well (regarding healing medically...bonding with the baby, well...not even all adults get the luxury of taking 4 weeks off from work I'm sure. Some might have to go back to work a lot sooner than that). Seems like doing it that way would even the playing field for all students (how fair would it be for pregnant mothers to have 4 weeks of excused absences when no one else has that opportunity?)


PsychTau

[AKA_Monet]

Medically, if there are no gross complications, then the young woman can resume normal activities upon discharge. For the psyche of the mother and child health, a month is roughly the correct amount of time to build the natural and instinctual cues for human babies--i.e. breast feeding vs. bottle. A child doesn't wean until ~3-4 months for bottle feedings.

Young mothers for the result of youthfulness have children that are at high risk for starvation, illnesses, decreased birth weights, developmental and learning disabilities because this critical connection period is missed.

The reality, if one does not clean up this problem for at least a month and the day-care mandatory service (love that idea), your next problem will be increased risk of sexually transmitted infections with the transmission to mother and infant.

4 weeks is such a simple fix, I would be willing to pilot it for 4 years. Then, I LOVE the mandatory day-care in-service with parenting classes, etc.--Alphafrog for President!!!

[UGAalum94]

But how in the world will a kid miss a month of class and come back to the same class and pass?

If it were just a question of working at a part time job, it's easy to see how one could take a month off and pick up right where you left off.

But if you miss a month of Algebra II, you'd missed a month of Algebra II. The class will be doing stuff that you are a month behind on.

Just stay out and take it later. Or stay out and repeat the grade with the mandatory child care as an elective.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

But how in the world will a kid miss a month of class and come back to the same class and pass?

If it were just a question of working at a part time job, it's easy to see how one could take a month off and pick up right where you left off.

But if you miss a month of Algebra II, you'd missed a month of Algebra II. The class will be doing stuff that you are a month behind on.

Just stay out and take it later. Or stay out and repeat the grade with the mandatory child care as an elective.

The same way that they do if they have major surgery, cancer, a severely broken leg, etc. In those situations, the schools are required to provide a home teacher a couple times a week, aren't they?

By law, any working female is entitled to 12 weeks with no penalty from their employer (if they can afford to go that long without pay). It's called the Family and Medical Leave Act. Short term disability will pay for 6 weeks for a vaginal birth, 8 for a c-section. 4 weeks is certainly reasonable. After having a baby, you go for a checkup at 2 weeks to have stitches removed and then again at 6 weeks to get approval for normal activity. I was clearly told not to lift more than 10 pounds (and I guarantee my kids' backpacks weigh more than that!). You're never sleeping more than 2 or 3 hours at a time at 4 weeks and that delays the healing of your body too.

Ultimately, it's to society's benefit for these young women to continue their education. You can pay for a few extras while they're in high school (like home school teachers and day care) or you can pay for them and their kids their whole lives because they get into the welfare cycle. I'd rather do the former. And yes, I'd add parenting classes as a "7th hour" or something to get the day care so that the young mother gets some support and instruction.

It's so easy to say they were stupid to get pregnant, but the only form of birth control that is 100% effective is abstinence and the statistics show that the vast majority of teens are having sex, so we have to be realistic here. And, as purely anecdotal evidence, the girls in honors math who got pregnant were forced to get abortions in my day because their parents weren't allowing them to "screw up" their lives with a teenage pregnancy. Given that's the other option, is this what we want to reward?

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The same way that they do if they have major surgery, cancer, a severely broken leg, etc. In those situations, the schools are required to provide a home teacher a couple times a week, aren't they?

not by law, no...and that therein is the crux of the situation...the student has to make arrangements to make up work missed. The school's main responsibility is at the least send work home to the student. But then that may differ from district to district but I have never heard of it being mandatory for a school to provide a home teacher for sick students ( or many more would be playing sick for more time off...heheh)

Originally Posted by AGDee

By law, any working female is entitled to 12 weeks with no penalty from their employer (if they can afford to go that long without pay). It's called the Family and Medical Leave Act.

It's so easy to say they were stupid to get pregnant, but the only form of birth control that is 100% effective is abstinence and the statistics show that the vast majority of teens are having sex, so we have to be realistic here. And, as purely anecdotal evidence, the girls in honors math who got pregnant were forced to get abortions in my day because their parents weren't allowing them to "screw up" their lives with a teenage pregnancy. Given that's the other option, is this what we want to reward?

But seee...it's as you said...any WORKING female. Any female that is providing an income to a household that she is running...Presumably a working person doing more than 20 hours a week...that vs a teenager still living under her parents' roof.

A few things to keep in mind


- Is used for job security has nothing to do with securing your education. You decide to take time off from something that is mostly 'free' in this country (high school) that is on you.

- Not to mention is used if the employer has a certain amount of employees and the ones that qualify have to have been working there for at least a year.

so essentially it's almost no reason to grant that for a teen when they have plenty of opportunities to make that time up...again there is the option of summer school or night school...there are plenty of people out there who had kids very early in life and found a way to do it (make up for lost time) so why should the bar be lowered any further to allow this generation of soft crybabies to do it?

You made your bed...sleep in it and be responsible...life isn't about getting it easy (easier either) ...everytime you lay there and the 2 of you agree to allow the penis to enter the vagina, one has to consider how much change your life will go thru with each stroke.


And on that note....

Good night all.

[UGAalum94]

And I think a teen could expect accommodations in her work place.

But the student can return and retake the classes whenever she wants to. And to me that make a difference.

Pregnancy is pretty controllable is you want it to be and certainly no high school student has to have sex. (would you provide home teachers to students who had elective surgery during the year during the school year too? Say a 16 year old schedules her cosmetic surgery for October? I don't mean that those are really equivalent, but maternity leave for teens isn't the same as emergency surgery or cancer.)

I don't think we've hit the point as a society at which we treat the decision to have a baby in high school like we treat the same decision by adult women.

I don't think the rest of us should bear increased cost for education when the student already has the option of repeating the class the next year at no cost to her.

[scbelle]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

not by law, no...and that therein is the crux of the situation...the student has to make arrangements to make up work missed. The school's main responsibility is at the least send work home to the student. But then that may differ from district to district but I have never heard of it being mandatory for a school to provide a home teacher for sick students ( or many more would be playing sick for more time off...heheh)





But seee...it's as you said...any WORKING female. Any female that is providing an income to a household that she is running...Presumably a working person doing more than 20 hours a week...that vs a teenager still living under her parents' roof.

A few things to keep in mind


- Is used for job security has nothing to do with securing your education. You decide to take time off from something that is mostly 'free' in this country (high school) that is on you.

- Not to mention is used if the employer has a certain amount of employees and the ones that qualify have to have been working there for at least a year.

so essentially it's almost no reason to grant that for a teen when they have plenty of opportunities to make that time up...again there is the option of summer school or night school...there are plenty of people out there who had kids very early in life and found a way to do it (make up for lost time) so why should the bar be lowered any further to allow this generation of soft crybabies to do it?

You made your bed...sleep in it and be responsible...life isn't about getting it easy (easier either) ...everytime you lay there and the 2 of you agree to allow the penis to enter the vagina, one has to consider how much change your life will go thru with each stroke.


And on that note....

Good night all.

Oh, I think I love you. <3

It is the job of the state to educate, and the right belongs to each child in that state. And we all know that with rights come responsibilities. Ok, so you make a stupid, hormonal decision and end up preggers. It is your responsibility to make use of your right to an education. If you can't keep up, then you should withdraw until the next year and take your classes again. That is, if your education means that much to you.

I had a friend in college who got pregnant. She was an ok student, but when she found out she was pregnant, she really got her butt in gear. For the last three semesters of college (pregnant, having the baby, and then taking care of the baby), she made the President's List. Why? She said it was because she was getting her degree come hell or high water. She learned to organize, maximize her time, and get things done. I think if the pregnant teens felt that way, they'd do anything they could to get things done ON THEIR OWN, not trying to get more time to "bond" or "heal" or whatever, and certainly not advocating for care that I as a taxpayer would have to cover. Get a grip.

But I still think that some repercussions should fall to the father, as well. I don't know how that would work... I don't think the schools could not let them register, but if they could, that would be great.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

But how in the world will a kid miss a month of class and come back to the same class and pass?

But if you miss a month of Algebra II, you'd missed a month of Algebra II. The class will be doing stuff that you are a month behind on.

Just stay out and take it later. Or stay out and repeat the grade with the mandatory child care as an elective.

Trust me, algebra 2 does not quarter fast at most high schools. Most of these kids are taking classes that are making them do presentation projects demonstrating what they have learned and how to implement it.

I don't know if Colorado has exit examinations to graduate, but if they do, the cumulative measured knowledge is just not learned once going to high school. If should have started in elementary and middle school.

The ages this report says was 15-17 years old. That is 9th grade to 12th grade.

No one has begun to ask how these young people are thinking about having sex... But that is another thread.