Every day hundreds of thousands of teen girls think about getting pregnant. The question is why does this happen? We can analyze this until the end of time. We can even over think the issue until we all have head aches and still not have the answers. But this is not rocket science and yes it is simple.
Everyday teens are being forced and encouraged to learn their history what many parents don't think of is just what our history holds about pregnant teens. Most of our history is filled with teens having children. It wasn't until the past one hundred years or so that we have changed our feelings on teen pregnancy.
At one time we married our children off at the age of as young as four years old. Now we accept that it is a crime to touch a child of that age. Most girls were considered women when they started having their monthly cycles. Even today we accept that a woman has about thirty years to have children. The question that should be asked is if a woman only has about one third of their life to conceive then why should we limit it any more than it already is?
Women fight everyday to have a child and many still can't have one. We first created adoption to help fill the void of infertility. Then as medical science improved we found many different types of surgery to change what was causing the infertility issues. Now our latest invetro-fertilization has not only created a way to give life outside of the womb but place it inside as well.
How many of them wonder if they had tried a little earlier in life would they now have a child. Is our thinking on when and how a woman should have children that far off that we should not only criticize them but hold them to a different standard? Women were born with the sense of their own body and they are the only ones who know when they should have a child.
I have to say that I am a teen parent and I'm glad that I am! Just after I had my last child (now 5) I found that I have had cancer and fibrosis, I'm only 28. It would not only be dangerous for me to have another child but the chance of me conceiving is very low. My first diagnosis was just after my last child was born and I never expected it. I didn't know this would happen but I did know in my heart that having a child at the age of seventeen was what I was meant to do.
We need to stop criticizing and start listening to the girls in this. There is more than one way of seeing a situation and we need to look harder. I won't say that every teen should go out and get pregnant but each case is unique and we should all give everyone a chance to be who they want to be. Children change who we are and most of the time it's for the better.
