Girls who grow up without a father present in the home are SEVEN times more likely to get pregnant during their teenage years. Girls without fathers are more likely to have children with out fathers also continuing the cycle. But what about the father’s father??
Time did an article on the issues that the often forgotten teenage fathers face when having a child. Not only does the teenage mother have Dad issues, but the teenage father is often a child of a single parent household most likely being without a father figure. On 16 and Pregnant the teenage fathers are often not shown or barely doing their part in raising their child. This is said to be because the teenage fathers were without a father themselves and are unsure of their roles and responsibilities as the father. Time describes the young fathers as being eager to help, but not necessarily knowing how to help, or feeling it to be emasculating to ask for help.
Overall, Daddies do make a difference but do having both parents present in the child's life make enough of a difference to prevent the teen pregnancy cycle from continuing?
Kristi H
Kristi H
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ReplyDeleteThis article--> http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10514277 is an example of my take on teen dads. I think there is definately a tendency for teen dads to be cut out of the picture. A stereotype of the father not being involved might not actually come from the father's desire not to be involved, it could come from the mother's side. There is a reason that stereotype exists but I think there are those teen dads that strive to be apart of the child's life. That combined with the pride of maybe not wanting to ask for help can hinder them.
ReplyDeleteI don't have anything to ad to the second part about the cycle of parents and children because I agree with everything alredy said. I definately think there is a connection between a child of a single mother and teenage pregnancy.
-Megan Z
I completely agree with this statement that this problem of absent fathers is a trending and reoccurring cycle that diminished households from generation to generation. I also feel that the issue on the teen fathers side is the lack of a sense of obligation and need to be apart of the child's life. Today's society and media portray no connection between raising a child and making a child. A lot of young men probably feel that it is not their responsibility or "problem" of taking care of the child since the mother is the one who is biologically "stuck" with it for nine months. This is a very disgraceful trend and needs to be put to a halt.
ReplyDelete-Portia K
Absant fathers are an issue. But I feel that we must also look at the larger context of why a two parent household holds so much importance in our society. Heteronormativity plays a large part in making people believe that there must be a "male" and "female" present in order to correctly raise a child. While I believe that responsibility is important, I think responsibility is put in the wrong places. If there were more convient and better social programs, aiding single parents in the efforts to raise a child I feel like this statistic would be non-exsistent. Women supporting women can be a marvouls thing.
ReplyDeleteBrittany W.