READERS REACT: IS 18 TOO YOUNG?
-Teen moms and moms-to-be take a class in the Bronx, N.Y., to help them have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies/USAToday-
Recent statistics show that teen pregnancy has increased in 26 states in the United States for women ages 15-19. Celebrity mom-to-be, model Jourdan Dunn, is one such woman who falls in line with this statistic. In this POST, BCK readers reacted to 18-year-old Jourdan Dunn’s pregnancy news. Here is how some readers reacted to the baby news:
Torre said: “Wow…. too bad she couldn’t wait a while, spend a few years with her boyfriend in an adult-relationship… as opposed to a teenager-relationship, get her modeling career secured, grow-up some, and then marry and start a family. What’s the rush young ladies?!? I know it’s their lives, and I wish them much success and happiness.”
Ms Ashley said: “Babies having babies…too young to be a mother???? Children are a gift from God!!!! I take it as such!!!! I have three and I’m going on 26. I agree I could have waited, however, if I had to do it all over again I would!!! I have a full-time job….going to school….hey it can be done. I’m a living witness!! You do have to grow up fast and yeah there are times I wish things were different but I have a great family….a great man (and I’m not married) but that helps!! I feel like its all about the person. I’m sure she’ll make it…Anyways congrats Jourdan!!!!”
Facts/Opinions:
-Every year around 750,000 teenagers will get pregnant.
-Unmarried teenagers having children account for 24 percent of all unmarried expectant mothers.
-More than 2/3 of all teenagers who have a baby will not graduate from high school.
-Teen pregnancy costs the United States at least $9 billion annually.
-The federal data — largely from birth certificates — shows widespread statistically significant increases [ in birth rates for teens] for 2006, the most recent year for which data are available.
-The rate of AIDS diagnoses in young men (15-19 years old) is on the rise, nearly doubling from 1.3 cases per 100,000 population in 1997 to 2.5 cases per 100,000 population in 2006.
- In 2006, about 1 million teens and young adults had chlamydia, gonorrhea or syphilis. And the rates of syphilis, for men and women, are on the rise.
Sources for statistics: Source1, Source2, Source3
So, Do you feel that 18 is too young to get pregnant?
31 Comments to “READERS REACT: IS 18 TOO YOUNG?”
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In MY OPINION, yes, 18 is too young. Life is short. Get out and enjoy it. Go to school, travel, see the world, grow up a bit before bringing children in the world. I believe you’ll have more to offer your child when you get some maturity and life experience under your belt. I believe children are a gift from God, but some parents aren’t always a gift to them. Now, that doesn’t mean that age is a guarantee for good parenting, but at 18, kids are still growing and change considerably. How can you even know fully what you want at that age? I think older parents make better parents; however, there are always exceptions to the rules.
I believe one should be in a GOOD, stable, MARRIED relationship before bringing children in the world. The problem with our community is that having babies out of wedlock has become the norm. The madness must stop.
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I agree with your post. And as you say there are some exceptions to the rule; but usually are very few.
I sometimes wonder if the news and celebrations of all the stars with their decisions to have babies on their own is an endorsement to many very young people that this is ok.
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Khrish, you are absolutely right. It’s almost like it’s become a status symbol especially with the all the celebrity worship going on.
My friend’s daughter started having children very young. Guess what? Now she wants to recapture her youth and wants to party all the time. She has three kids now and dumps them off on anyone who will watch them. There’s nothing wrong with mama wanting to get out, but the days of ripping and running the streets day and night are over once children come along. They need us.
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I agree with Teri and Khrish.
I also wanted to add that 18 year olds are (usually) not financially stable or financially ready for a baby. Most are still living at home or have just started living on their own. They don’t need the financial burden of a baby…JMHO.
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Blue, how could I have forgotten such a very important issue. Money! You are so right. Finances are one of the most important things to consider when thinking about having a child.
We love to quote the “children are a blessing” mantra, but are we really being a blessing to them by giving them if we are not prepared to give them everything they need?
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Teri,
Perfect…I could have said it any better.
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I do think that 18 is young, but it’s not the end of the world. My husband and I were married for 13 years before our daughter was born. I was 38 and thought I had successfully dodged the “baby bullet.” I’m glad that I was older because I had lived some already. I got to travel with my husband because his work as an engineer, and worked some on my own. Now I can spend my days taking care of my girl and not feel like I’ve missed out on anything. But I truly think it depends on the woman.
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So what if she is pregnant…I wish her all the best, this is what she wants. At least she hasn’t had an abortion. Some people get pregnant at 18 and beacuse society says she’s too young or has her “career” they have abortions and then later on in life they are struggling to get pregnant and resorting to IVF. I wish her all the best and hopes she gives birth to a healthy baby. Yes she is young and yes it may be tough but there are worst things happening in the world!!
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Yes xactly!!There is worse things going on.
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yes 18 is too young…EXCEPT in this girl’s case, she’s a famous model who has already been traveling the world and making money, she’s NOT your average 18 year old…
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In general I think 18 is too young. As someone stated earlier most 18 year olds are not financially stable enough to handle the cost of having a child, so many of these young people are still being supported by their own parents.
We can go on for days about all the repurcussions of having children too early…
Absent Fathers
Crime Rates
Cost to taxpayers ie. Food Stamps,Medicaid (not referring to responsible people who have come on hard times and need these benefits temporarily)
Grandparents raising grandkids
The cycle it creates.
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I think 18 is wayyy to young. Take it from a fellow teen parent. I gave birth to my son when @ 17 years old granted, I was not an unwed mother due to marriage.
I tell any young girl that I meet that babies are permanent. Alot of these young girls dont have a father figure and are looking for love in all the wrong places, 9 times out of 10 a teen mother will say she had her baby because she wanted someone to love her, thats the main issue here. If more mothers and fathers practiced and taught these young ladies self-worth and esteem, they would’nt go looking for love and end up with a child.
Also as a sex-educator alot of these girls that I see have never had a talk about sex with their parents or caregivers, most of the info that they learn is from thier surroundings and peers who may or may not have acurate info. Shoot there are worse things than being pregnant, pregnancy has a cure, you either choose to parent or you dont (to each his/her own). Teach your daughters and sons how to protect themselves…they have all the time in the world for babies.
On another but realted note…I let my 10 year old daughter watch the new M.T.V show 16 & pregnant. It is a wake up call to these young people that babies are not toys, they are premanent fixtures once they enter your life. it also shows that pregnancy and birth are not glamorous. Problems happen, life…real life happens
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I would definitely say that 18yrs old is too young to have a baby. You are still a child yourself,even though legally your considered an adult(which by the way i think should be changed to 21) your still growing up and have so much maturing to do as a person.
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Blue I don’t know what world you’re living in sweetie, I have news for ya. Just as many adults between ages 21-45 or older living home with their parents,lol. It depends on the person’s maturity, I see so many older adults with children doing things they have no business doing around children. They cuss,smoke,do drugs,have sex,beat hell out of kids,list goes on and on and on. Being older doesn’t make u a betta parent and we all know that by seeing it and hearing it. How many adult males and females have killed their children because they’re stressed,got laid off from work, mad at the spouse,etc. If I hear one more selfish azz parent that have killed all of his/her kids because they don’t want to live, I’m gonna scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking at majority of their ages and the kids ages, these people had these kids at mature ages. So who are we to judge if an 18yr old is responsible enuff? at least she’s of legal age.
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Please point out to me where I said that older adults don’t still live at home? You can’t because I never said it (nor inferred it) and never would because I know that some do. That however was not the main point of my post…it was financial stability and I used the example of an 18 year old living at home to support my point.
As far as your last statement…being of legal age means nothing IMO. I’m of legal age to smoke but that doesn’t mean that I should do it. I don’t understand what that has to do with anything anyway. There is no legal age as to who can have a a baby.
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yes 18 is too young….EXCEPT in this girl’s case, she has already been traveling the world and making money, she’s not the average 18 year old…
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Yes 18 years old is to young. Mature people would known that a baby at 18 is not in their nor the baby’s best interest. At that age you are just getting out from under your parents wings, why would you want to be tied down by a child? You never know the feeling of being free and single and just like the poster Teri said some end up trying to recapture what they feel they’ve missed and leave their children with anyone just to get to the next party, this is how children get molested.
Please young women find something else to be than somebody’s mama.
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Wow a comment of mine made it to a post!!!! Crazy!! Anyways I’m not encouraging teens or anyone for that matter to have a baby. I guess it depends on the person. Hell there are grown ppl that can barely do their job as parents. I guess I speak for myself and my situation. I was 19 stable to say the least. I was in the military…going to school….of course I wasn’t completely ready but some things did come natural. Like I said it depends on the person.
Geesh Jourdan is 18….these days kids are getting pregnant at 11 and 12!!! They are the ones we should be worried about.
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well I’m 19, and I’m a full-time college student with a full-time job and no children and I feel that there isn’t a certain age you should have children. But I do think that you just need to be stable in every aspect before bringing a child into the world I wouldn’t even consider thinking about having a child right now, I have at least 6 more years of college ahead of me and I very selfish as far as my time goes and it would be wrong of to conceive just to have the child sitting in daycare while I try to make a living for us which is what most young parents will have to do in order to establish a good life for their family.
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Shoot, im 18 my self, i love 2 sleep in late, stay up all night, i work and starting august 22 im going away 4 college..kids are no were on my agenda, having a baby now would be a big mistake, i like to travel between new york n philly (catching the 2am greyhound) and i like to spend my little 300 dollar checks on shoes, clothes, food and video games, were would a baby fit, even if ur a model or actress traveled the world n have tons of money ur still 18 u still have ur whole life ahead of u. this aint the 1887′s were u died at like 40 u got mad years ahead of u take ya time
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yep that’s to young, 23 is too young in my opinion, but i depends on every individual case. I feel like 18 is too young because the average 18 year old doesn’t have the mindset to properly care for a child,too much partying to do, to much schooling, establishing yourself in the world. I read somewhere that 26 is when people come to full maturity, and we know that most people are well over that and still act like kids.
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um i know this was last year but why would think a grown 23 year old is too young to have kids? and then you’re saying 18 is too young. Make up your mind. Do you think 23 or 18 is too young to have kids? if you think 23 is too young you must be really young because 23 is NOT to young to have kids. thats almost 25 and even if a 23 year old is pregnant they will be 24 when they have the baby anyways, so yeah at 24 you’re officially grown. And this is not about a 23 year old this is about a teenaged 18 year old kid. You can’t even buy beer at 18, not even at 20.
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I don’t know. I can’t take this as a YES or NO question. To me if the 18 year old (18 is the age which in the eyes of the law, you are an adult) has s job, is in a stable relationship then NO it isn’t too young. If the 18 year old is not working, not in a great relationship than YES it’s too young. Now of course their mental stability and such is also a key point too.
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Yeah this pregnancy thing is getting crazy when I was a teen we was not thinking about getting pregnant we hung out at the movies and we just really got done with Barbies at thirteen. There is something behind why there is an uprise on pregnancies with young girls. If we don’t find out what’s wrong with these girls the new hot bag is going to contain diapers and milk.
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Well today is her birthday so technically she’s 19 now. Still 19 is too young, howevêr it is her decision and many mothers live through it. I just wish her and the baby the best!
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I personally think that 18 is too young. I know that I have partly derived this opinion from how I feel about myself and parenthood. At the age of 22 I don’t even feel like I’m a little bit close to being ready to be a parent. I want to try as much as possible to be financially and emotionally where I feel that I need to be in order to be a parent. At the moment I can honestly say that I’m definitely not there yet. Also I would really like to be in a solid marriage before I have children. Although I recognise circumstances will affect and contribute to whether I actually have the ability to get to the financial and emotional stability that I desire before having children.
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Personally I think 18 is too young to become a mother because you still have some growing up to do. However speaking from personal experience you can have a child young and still be stable. I got had my first child at 20 while I was a full time college student. Then I got married at 22 and now im 27 with 4 children and we live a comfortable lifestyle.
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Hey I did things right, and I still wish I would’ve waited until my 30s to have a baby!
You never get that childless carefree feeling back again. I thought I had worries before being a mom, but having a child makes you worry about things you never considered as just a wife.
I was married for 3 1/2 years before getting prego and I enjoyed every moment getting to know my husband and growing with him. I can’t imagine the strain we would’ve had with a child in the early stages of our honeymoon period!
That being said, I’m very glad I’m a mom now, and SOOO glad I wasn’t while in my teens!
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You know it’s so easy for people to judge, ESPECIALLY when they have no real knowledge or have never been in the situation themselves. That’s all i gotta say…
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uhm , i think its up to the girl ! Should kids be having kids ? [ NO ] . But is happends ; noone has to deal with it except for that young girl . So i think everyone should mind their business ! Its not your choice & who are you to judge them ; [ only god has that right to judge anyone ] . Like it or not ! i could care less
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i totally disagree im 38 years old and got pregnant at 17 had my daughter at 18 with my boyfriend and me and him have been married for 18 years and we are happy and my daughter is happy and it was hard but we did what we had to do and i dont regret it at all.
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