Agreed with frieda -- a lot of teen parents who still live with their parents are living as though they just have infant siblings for all the work they do for their own offspring!

Yeah, I don't know about the page in the yearbook. I'm sure it is really hard work to have a baby while still in high school, but for the majority, it's a choice. I know that some women are raped, and any woman that has a baby that was conceived during a rape deserves respect. I think I've heard that rapes don't usually result in conception. I don't know why that is, but thank God for that that women don't have to be punished twice, by the rape and forced to have a child they weren't planning, and conceived from a violent act.

It's hard to know what's going on with people without knowing them. I went through Catholic School, and I know that back in the day the women weren't even allowed to walk down the aisle to get their diploma. Meanwhile, the baby's father was likely also graduating. But they can usually slip below the radar screen.

The teen mothers in my community that I've been acquainted with over the years truly aren't doing it all. Their mothers are! College is a mixed bag, and I'm sure many married couples have gotten pregnant while in college. Some might be married, others not, but they are usually a little more mature by college.

I guess as far as the page in the yearbook goes, if they were going to showcase the mothers, they should also know other kids that have faced adversity and still gotten the grades. There are kids whose parents divorce, putting them through stress while they are in school, parents that drink or beat their kids, or families that struggle financially and otherwise. I would argue that there are very few ideal situations for kids growing up, and they all have stuff to deal with. I would be really annoyed if I came from a low income family and busted my hump to get the grades so I could find my way out, and opened to a page on pregnant mothers.

YES, absolutely.

That is such a good point Happy. That bothers me about it too. It's glorifying teen pregnancy above other kinds of adversity people face. And i really think other teens might be influenced by it. I agree that pregnant teens shouldn't be discriminated against, but they also shouldn't be put up on pedestals for everyone to admire. Look at adult women, and how many of them have babies because they are influenced by peers. And teens are even more influenced by peer pressure than adults. What teen mothers are doing is difficult, yes, but is it ultimately for the best? I certainly wouldn't want to be a baby in that situation.

Right - it might not make girls say "ooh, I want a baby!" but it might make them think that having a baby isn't as tough as it really is.

That would be because the journalism is from "FAUX news". :P

This is so true. Wow. I know women in their 30s that are all wound up about babies, and I know at least part of that is peer pressure. I remember how tough it was as a teenager. It was so hard not to do what everyone else was doing. I think it has gotten so much worse - I graduated high school in 1989.

In Australia they brought in the "baby bonus" to try and encourage people to procreate. Thus, you now get $5000 for each baby. Unsurprisingly, this has encouraged many teenagers and drug-addicts to get pregnant. One buys a big screen tv, the other buys illicit drugs. Apparently many young girls, according to the "Current Affairs" programmes, are being encouraged by their boyfriends to have a child so that they can get access to the money.

I realise that the month off school may not be as big a motivator as money, but still it does send a message that you get something if you do this.

If I had gotten pregnant as a teen my parents would have FREAKED. I would have been seriously in big big big trouble. It would have been considered one of the worst things I could do in their eyes, and I can see why!! So, for a school to turn around make a yearbook page to show admiration and respect for teen mothers...just seems very strange to me. I can see it's hard, but in a perfect world it's something you're not really supposed to do (in modern times). That's how I was raised at least. It was a values thing...sex before marriage was something most of us did of course, but it wasn't exactly encouraged or applauded by our parents and the school.

I agree. my mom would have sent me off somewhere and made me give the baby up for adoption. no if no and no buts about it. I would not have gotten a baby shower or goverment help, or special treatment. and I damn sure would not have gotten the oh poor hard working girl you have to leave your childhood behind and your so young but I am Proud of you treatment either. It would have been more like GROW UP you got yourself into this mess you figure it out! your on your own treatment!

I would not be an adult I would have become less then human and i would not have been given any respect at all!
I think if more "young mommies" had to overcome all of that guilt and shame and fear...there would be less young mommies! As long as people honor and show them more respect then the non baby machines they "young mommies" will get younger and younger!