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Teenage mothers see pregnancy as a 'career move'

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  • #1

    Teenage mothers see pregnancy as a 'career move'

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...ve-408186.html

    How true is this? Well, seeing as there are so many teenage mums who come into the supermarket where I work armed with tons of milk tokens (which can also be used to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and formula), I have to wonder. Plus, as a single woman living alone with no children and a willingness to work (despite only being able to get part time hours), I don't get half the benefits that a single teen mum would get; I get some housing benefit, but not much cuz I don't pop babies out at a drop of a hat, and cuz I want to work rather than sit around on my arse all day collecting unemployment benefit. All this makes it seem logical that there are some teenage girls who would see having a baby as a career move.
    "Oh wow, I can't believe how stupid I used to be and you still are."
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  • #2
    It's a crappy situation for the government. Either you drop funding for single mothers, which hurts the kids, or you continue paying people to sit on their asses. I can't possible see how having a kid makes life easier. I'd shoot myself before thinking about having a kid in the near future.

    As for "having a kid made my life better", some of that stuff is utter crap. I quit drugs and alcohol because I was having a baby! Congratulations. You couldn't have done that without popping a kid out? Stupid.
    Violence has resolved more conflicts than anything else. The contrary opinion that violence doesn't solve anything is merely wishful thinking at its worst. - Starship Troopers

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    • #3
      Eh. They didn't really go into the home lives these girls are coming from. I'm guessing it wasn't always idyllic.

      As for those who are glad that they had a kid because it stopped them from x behavior- well, some people need to be motivated by something other than bettering themselves for their own sake. I'm not going to fault that.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by AFPheonix View Post
        As for those who are glad that they had a kid because it stopped them from x behavior- well, some people need to be motivated by something other than bettering themselves for their own sake. I'm not going to fault that.
        I'll give you that, but there has to be something else that isn't so life-altering.
        Violence has resolved more conflicts than anything else. The contrary opinion that violence doesn't solve anything is merely wishful thinking at its worst. - Starship Troopers

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        • #5
          I suspect that they didn't have the baby solely for the purpose of stopping drinking or drugs. As the article mentioned, not all of the couples planned on the baby, but had a Que Sera, sera attitude about it. I think they ended up pregnant, either on purpose or not, and then had the "oh shit, I need to put on my big boy pants" and went ahead and bettered themselves at that point.

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          • #6
            When I read the article, it felt like it was based on teenage mothers that were trying to get pregnant, not the "crap I got knocked up" mothers.
            Violence has resolved more conflicts than anything else. The contrary opinion that violence doesn't solve anything is merely wishful thinking at its worst. - Starship Troopers

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            • #7
              From the article itself:

              The research, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, was based on interviews with 13- to 22-year-old mothers living in six deprived parts of Britain who had either taken a fatalistic attitude to getting pregnant by stopping taking contraception or who had actively planned to have a child with the support of their partners.
              I take the "fatalistic attitude" to mean people who didn't necessarily want to have children, but still put themselves into the position of pregnancy. They didn't really go into the reasons why that particular group chose to not avail themselves of contraception.
              I think THOSE are the ones who were apathetic already or had depression and chemical abuse issues, and for whom the fact that a child of their own was now on its way was the reason to get cleaned up and get their act together.

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              • #8
                I can understand a 16 year-old, surrounded by her entire family, all her neighbours, all her friends, all her friends' families....all of whom got pregnant at an early age and ended up on assistance.

                I suspect that 16 year-old would assume she was going to end up pregnant. Perhaps her family is actually supporting this mindset.

                This kind of cycle would absolutely lead to a fatalistic attitude, especially for a teenager. Normal teenage girls aren't good at looking future planning, and they tend to be moody and depressed.

                Combine that with the expectations of peer and social groups (that they will 'put out', that they won't amount to anything anyway) and you have a recipe for teenage pregnancy. And the cycle continues.

                I'm still an advocate of personal responsibility - but I fully recognize that the decision not to get knocked up at 16 was far, far easier for me to make than it was for others. This is where the phrase "Don't judge a person until you've walked a mile in their shoes" comes in handy.

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