Sex Education and Teen Pregnancies
To all of the younger generation, regardless of the opposition of
people who prefer parents should teach their own children about sex, I believe
that sex education should take part as a main focus in health classes and
should be required for all students in public schools. Being a teen mom myself,
I agree that it is very important to warn young girls about the risks and
consequences. My story begins when I started dating my husband back in 2009. We
were using protection back then because we were both still in high school. But
when we both graduated, we were so in love that we wanted to start a family of our own. We decided that we were going to make a baby. Then I got pregnant a month after my 18th birthday. We didn't think
about the stuff that we had to give up raising a baby.
My son, Jaylen was born
that year. He is the best gift that I have ever received, but I never would
have thought that raising a baby would be hard and come with many consequences.
Being a young mom, you sometimes have urges to still live like a teenager; such
as wanting to hang out with your friends or go see a movie on a Friday night.
However, being a mother is a 24/7 job. Especially for a newborn, they would
need attention every second. If a teen mom wanted to hang out, she would need
to bring her baby everywhere she goes and her friends might feel weird and stop
being your friend. It is also known that 90% of teen couples
who have a baby together are most likely to break up as shown in studies.
However in my case, my baby's father is in the baby’s life and is now my
husband so I'm really lucky. Ever since becoming a teen mom however, I've felt
as if I had to grow up really fast. I sacrificed my teen life to be a caring
mother for my son and I absolutely have no regrets. Of course I do believe I
wished I waited to become a mother. It truly is a big responsibility in life
and it changes your life completely. That is why sex education at school is
important because I believe that if I had the knowledge of sex and the risks
behind my actions then I would have been more careful and protected myself with
condoms or birth control. I know and I can speak for all young girls out there
that sex education won’t prevent them to have unprotected sex, but
it can guarantee them to have understanding of what they are getting themselves
into. They can encourage young girls to
make smart sexual choices, and also decrease the rate of teen pregnancy
dramatically. In this generation, it seems as many young girls want to grow up
fast, get married and have kids before they are ready and this issue should be
concerned. I most definitely wasn't ready at all and I’m truly blessed that my
family and my husband’s family was there to help us though it all. I respect
all mothers out there because it is a hard job taking care of a little one. It is however all worth it though when I get to see my son grow. My life as a teen mom was very difficult,
but I learned to become strong and selflessness. I went through many struggles to get to where I am now. I’m now 21 years old
and my son is a year and 5 months. I have started going to college again so I
can earn a degree to help better my son’s future. I honestly think that my son was given to me
for a reason not only to make me the happiest mommy in the world, but to better
myself also because I don’t think I would have went back to college if it wasn't for my son.
Chelsea,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more! My mother was a teen mom and she talked to me constantly about the hardships she went through and also how to prevent pregnancy until I am ready. I think if it wasn't for her guidance I might have slipped up along the way. I wish that we could have sex education in school because there are so many people out there that don't have parents that can teach them the ins and outs of this subject. Thanks for your post :)