medpundit |
||
|
Sunday, August 28, 2005My girlfriend was married for 20 years, and she had her first child at 15, and her second at 19. Let's look at the advantages of teen mothers: You raise your children while you are young. It makes you grow up really fast. You are still quite young when the last child leaves the home (in her case, she was 36 when her son (the youngest) left home. The age difference isn't so great that you will likely die when your children are young. On the other hand, is this worse? I have a 47 year old female friend who has announced she is finally ready to have children with her 55 year-old husband. That child (if it happens), when he/she is 20, will have a 75 year-old father, if he is even around then. So, which is more foolish? I understand that many 15 year-old women aren't as mature as my girlfriend was, but to paint a broad brush condeming all teen mothers is far off the mark. I suspect over human history, teen pregnancies have been the norm. Although, the late 20th and early 21st centuries are probably the only time in history in which 1) women have the chance to do more with their lives than be wives and mothers, 2) the ability to do more depends on the ability to complete an education, and 3) personal economic prosperity for families often depends on fulfilling 1 and 2. So, unless a girl's lucky enough to find a husband with a job that's never likely to be eliminated and with good pay (which is also less likely to happen to a teenager than to an adult woman), teenage motherhood generally turns out to be a poor career choice. UPDATE: Case in point. posted by Sydney on 8/28/2005 11:05:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
|