S/O do your teenagers know any pregnant teens?

[TravelingChris]

I have been surprised by the other thread with so many saying that their churches or neighborhoods have an unwed pregnant teen. There just haven't been any in any of the churches we have attended. Nor have there been any in the neighborhoods we have lived in. Nor any in the activities they do whether with homeschoolers or not including sports, theater, co-ops, speech and debate or anywhere else. It isn't that we are shunning anyone- there just hasn't been anyone. What have been your experiences?

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Yes. Our town has one of the highest pregnancy rates in the state. We have an on-site chidcare center in the high school for the teen moms. Last year there were at least three pregnant girls in the marching band.

 

I have two pregnant teens in my summer class.

 

My DD goes to public school, though. I don't know of any pregnant girls who are homeschooled.

[Renee in NC]

The only pregnant teen I have come across recently is my sister. She knew many other teens who were pregnant, but she went to a school for pregnant teens, so that was to be expected.:D

 

I can't think of any others recently among the people we know/have known.

[Retired]

my teen have no personal friends but we live in a area where you see lots of teen pregnancy

 

there is a local grocery store manager that considers it a ministry to hire the expectant moms, I have only seen one continue working for him after delivery

 

I have been in the store where every cashier was a pregnant teen

[Wheres Toto]

There are no pregnant teens currently attending my dd's school. In the past few years, a teenage cousin was pregnant at 15 and an old classmate of my dd's was pregnant at 14.

 

Unless you know someone pretty well, it's possible you may not even know if they were pregnant. Even if they continue with the pregnancy, they may not continue with their regular extra-curricular activities. I doubt a pregnant teenager is going to continue playing sports or doing gymnatics or dance.

[Wendi]

At our church, a teenage girl gave birth late last year. The baby was adopted by a family in the church.

 

My son was a bit shocked at first, but I explained that she's doing the right thing by carrying the baby and making sure he has a loving, safe home. (She decided quite on her own to place the baby for adoption, and chose the family.) So all she needs from everyone in the church is grace, support, and love. Which, as far as I know, was all she ever received. She's also not the first pregnant teenager in our church; there were a couple several years ago, but they got married to the fathers and stayed married and in the church.

 

Wendi

[Ferdie]

My neighbor's son is a teen dad. His gf kept the baby and is living at home with her parents while raising it.

[Ailaena]

Well, the girl is not pregnant anymore, but a rising 9th grade girl with dd at camp last year was pregnant. It was July and the baby was due in Sep. She kept the baby and her parents are helping her raise it.

 

Last year a 10th grader at gym was pregnant. Besides the coaches, dd was the only one she told (I have no idea why, they weren't best friends or anything) and she ended up having an abortion. I remember her mother angrily confronting me in the parking lot and going through a very wide range of emotions over the course of a few hours.

 

My homeschooled cousin (whom I have never actually met) lived on a farm/kennel in the middle of nowhere and mysteriously became pregnant at 16. Mysterious only in the sense that as far as anyone knew, she never even went anywhere! Turned out to be a delivery guy.

 

When I was pregnant, the 7th grade girl across the street from me was due 2 weeks before me. We were the talk of the neighborhood, I'm sure!

[Hannah C.]

When I was in high school 3-6 years ago, there were quite a few pregnant teens. There probably still are quite a few.

 

No one I actually knew got pregnant until after I graduated..then a girl who graduated with me got pregnant, as well as another who was still in HS. Both of them had the babies and married the dads. Another girl I knew got pregnant out of wedlock later on, and is engaged to the dad. All of these girls were in their late teens, and only one was still in high school when she got pregnant and had the baby.

 

As far as I know, out of people I knew in high school, I'm the only girl to get pregnant *after* getting married. I'm also no longer a teenager.

[katemary63]

Several

[Pamela H in Texas]

We knew OF one back home.

 

I might know of one every 3-5 years....

[Joanne]

Currently? I don't think so. But a neighbor girl was pregnant when we moved here.

 

My son (15) remains amazed/aghast that there is a daycare in all local highschools "not for the teacher's kids!!".

[Just Robyn]

Well, I don't have or know any teenagers right now, but when I was a teenager I went to the one high school in town with a daycare, so I knew many.

[Mom-ninja.]

I knew at least one pregnant teen every year starting in 8th grade. I lived in N. CA and UT during that time. Yep, even in the heart of Utah near Salt Lake City there was a pregnant girl each year.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Three nieces and one nephew have had children when they were teens. All have chosen to raise their babies with the help of my sisters.

 

We did have one college age girl (so she may or may not have been officially a teen) in our church who was pregnant at the same time I was with dd8. She gave the baby up for adoption. I felt badly for her when she would ask to hold dd to see how heavy her little girl was at different ages. . .

[phathui5]

One of our babysitters is 19 and pregnant, but I'm not sure I would count that as a "pregnant teen." She's a married, pregnant 19 year old.

[ereks mom]

...of friends from our former church, he is one of the two who has not become a teen parent. There were 3 girls and 2 boys in his class at that church. All three of the girls became teen parents, but neither of the boys did.

Edited July 14, 2010 by ereks mom

[Murphy101]

Currently? I don't think so. But a neighbor girl was pregnant when we moved here.

 

My son (15) remains amazed/aghast that there is a daycare in all local highschools "not for the teacher's kids!!".

 

:iagree: mine too!

 

I have 4 nephews and 2 nieces that have had multiple children before they were/are 18. :(

 

I imagine there's plenty of it around me but I don't really notice unless it's someone I know personally.

[Mrs Mungo]

I knew several pregnant girls throughout my school years, starting in seventh grade. I haven't known of any pregnant homeschooled girls in our circles.

[TravelingChris]

I guess maybe it is the socio- economic differences or maybe the parts of the country. I think, though, it is the socio-economic differences since we have lived in Ca 3 times, NM,Belgium, FL and now northern VA. I don't really know. I have seen stats that kids from evangelic homes get pregnant at least as much as non evangelical kids. We are attending mainline churches, though conservative congregations, so I am not sure we count in the grouping of evangelical according to those pollsters even though our churches were always evangelical.

It is strange but most of the places we have lived the teenagers who are under 16 don't even date. Not because parents don't allow, just because. I am a social scientist by training and inclination and this is just fascinating to me. I had never thought about it until this week that although there are such high rates of illegitimacy in this country, particularly with teens, (and no I wouldn't count married teens and we might have known some who were either married teens or married young 20 or 21- military), I haven't encountered it with anyone I know. Have the kids seen it - yes at stores and medical facilities, etc. But no one we knew or even had a passing acquaintance with. At our church right now, a sizeable number of the kids are homeschooled but at least half go to either public or private schools. In Florida and New Mexico, we attended churches where most of the kids were in school although we were never the only homeschoolers in the church.

[TravelingChris]

Oh and there was a pregnant girl in my junior high but in general, they moved the pregnant girls. I think that was the policy for high school too and we didn't have a day care. There was a girl who got pregnant her senior year (a year ahead of me) and she dropped out but still lived in the area. In my area at that time, it wasn't a typical occurrence since my school was very college oriented and that was were most kids were heading. In fact, when I moved to California for my dh's first military station, I was shocked to find out that most kids in that area didn't go to college. That was so alien to me since the only kids not going to college or into the military were a few who started working techinal trades and the others were druggie losers.

[Pamela H in Texas]

My son (15) remains amazed/aghast that there is a daycare in all local highschools "not for the teacher's kids!!".

 

The one at M.C.H.S. *was* just teacher kids and PPCD. Children of students had a voucher towards $X of their daycare costs and they had to pay the difference if they chose a daycare that cost more than the voucher. Of course, I don't know how it is in your district now as that was a LONG time ago when there were only three high schools (and at that time THS and KHS didn't have daycares at all). But I know a lot has changed.

 

BTW, when *I* was at MCHS (because of pregnancy then parenting; I originally went to KHS til then), there were about 10 preg and parenting teens. I know there were MANY more two years later and that they had added sections of class about divorce <sigh>.

[Jenny in Atl]

Nope.

 

In fact the only one we've even know was a girl from one of our homeschool music co-ops, a couple years ago. We did not know her personally, but everyone knew she was expecting.

[Tap]

Not that I can think of. He did go to public high school this year, so I would expect that he knows one or two from there, but not what he would call 'friends'. There aren't any in his youth group at church (that we know of).

[jewellsmommy]

My dh and I run the youth ministry at our church. We are a smaller church. About 3 yrs ago we had a young girl who became pregnant by a homeschooled boy (not an attendee of our church). She continued to come sporadically. We actually worked out a really good plan with her. She continued to come to Wed night youth group but switched to the adult women's sunday school class for Sunday mornings. This offered her continued support as she had to 'exist' in both worlds. kwim?

 

We have not had any as part of our co-op or in our close friendships but I would not be shocked if we did. It happens in all circles. I knew many in school and outside of my school when I was a teen.

 

ETA: I don't have a teen, but dd knows this girl that I have referenced.

[gingersmom]

I knew a girl in my 10th grade science class who got pregnant (30 years ago). And my parents had friends whose daughter got pregnant during her freshman year of college (25 years ago).

 

I have never seen/heard of any pregnant teens in my neck of the woods (living here 9 years).

[Crissy]

My teen doesn't know any.

He was aware of one young woman at his high school who was pregnant, but he didn't know her personally.

 

I can't think of any pregnant teens, either, but I do know of a couple of young women (in their 20s) who are single and either pregnant or recently had a baby. That was my case as well. I was single and pregnant at 24.

[Ginevra]

My teen doesn't know any. That we know of, there are no pregnant teens at homeschool co-op, among community friends, at church or among the older cousins. I have also never taken note of a teen "disappearing" from our co-op or church that would make me wonder where they had gone.

[Carol in Cal.]

However, we do have a cousin who we received by adoption from a teen pregnancy. DD has met the birth mother. It's sort of horrifying to realize that she got pregnant when she was 15, and that DD is now 14. But in a good way for us, just a sad way for her.

[Melissa in Australia]

In fact, when I moved to California for my dh's first military station, I was shocked to find out that most kids in that area didn't go to college. That was so alien to me since the only kids not going to college or into the military were a few who started working techinal trades and the others were druggie losers.

 

In Australia not everyone goes to University ( what they call collage here). In fact I think probably only half of high school graduates go to Uni.

 

20 years ago , when I was at school, the only people who finished high school were the ones going to uni. Everyone who went into trade left at the end of year 9. School was then only compulsory until 15. they have brought the age up to 17 now (I think).

 

I am getting completely off topic

sorry.

[Plucky]

My son is friends with a boy that is a father. He's 16.

[Renthead Mommy]

Mine's not a teen yet, but of our friends with teens, no none of them are pregnant.

 

There was no one full term pregnant in my high school. It was a small school of 400-500 kids, most of which all went to college, many of them ivy league or similiar. I don't remember of hearing of anyone having kids there in any of the years following while my brother was there either.

 

I will say a very large portion was having sex. But girls were on the pill and it seemed we all knew how to use and where to get birth control. I do know of a few girls that had abortions.

[emzhengjiu]

There are two unmarried pregnant teen girls in our apartment complex this summer. Last year, there was one PG teen who was the cousin of a friend of my daughters. We got to know her since she visited the complex frequently. My daughters' close friend's brother at 16.5 became a dad. His girlfriend was also 16. Unfortunately, I don't think many of these kids have strong family support.

[Mrs Mungo]

Actually, I have to revise my previous statement just a little. I had a friend in NC, we're both living elsewhere but I talk to her on facebook. Her 15 year old son's girlfriend had a baby a couple of months ago. I think the girl and baby are actually living with my friend, in their own room.

[KidsHappen]

Nope, not a one. I don't know where all these pregnant teens are hiding. :confused:

[Daisy]

Our neighbor. Daughter got pregnant in high school & has since graduated (baby is about a year old). The baby's father is now living with her and her parents. They are not married. It appears that young mom stays home and takes care of the baby. The father may still be in High School or is going to community college and then does a lot of yard work, etc. around the place. The daughter's parents both work. Makes for some interesting questions from my kids.

 

It is fairly common in this city for 13yo to get pregnant. It is a huge problem at the Junior highs. I have a friend who runs a home for teen moms and they are always full.