Thursday, March 6, 2008

And The Winner Is...

Thank you all so much for entering. I definitely got some good ideas for things to do around here. I know that my mom will have a blast. I am just so excited to see her again, it has been about a year since my last trip to California. Out of the almost 3 years that we have been in Florida, my mom is only the second person to come visit us.

So, after using a random number generator, the winner is Gnat from BarknKnit. Thanks for all the entries!!

While I have no knitting content today, I do have some news. T's cousin is pregnant and having a girl. I am happy for her but also a little worried. She only graduated from high school about a year ago and was working and going to college. I was really surprised to hear about this, I just never expected this from her. Since she has always been involved in school and sports, I thought that she would graduate from college and go out on her own before starting a family. I know that she will be taken care of because she has a family that loves her very much. She was not the first girl to have a baby young. About 2 years ago, another of T's cousins had a baby girl. Since she was the first young girl to get pregnant, everyone was shocked. Her grandfather actually didn't talk to her for most of the pregnancy because he was so disappointed. She is doing well and making a life with her fiance and little girl. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, I am used to this, it has happened a couple of times in my family too. My sister had a baby at 16, when I was 14. I grew up seeing how much more difficult her life was with the addition of a baby. We love my nephew and I would never think badly of him, but I think her life would be a lot different if she didn't have him so young. I have noticed that teen pregnancy is a cycle. My best friend in high school was pregnant our senior year but since she was in love, they tried for the baby. Her mother also had her when she was a senior in high school. I guess I am just on the fence on how to react to this. What do you think?

2 comments:

Mommyleek said...

Congrats to Gnat! And I hope you and your Mom find a lot of cool things to do while she's here.

On the young/teen pregnancy thing... I can't condone it, even in the best of circumstances. Children just can't raise children. They're not done growing up themselves, and it's unfortunate for both the parent and the child. I mean, the parent deserves to live and experience life and not have to struggle at such a young age with such adult things as bills and daycare, not to mention the emotional obligation of a child. And the child deserves a more stable environment. I'm not saying that all young/teen parents are bad parents. I'm sure there are many out there who are completely dedicated to their children and mature enough to take on the responsibility, but they're the minority. And it's left as a burden on the rest of the family, and the rest of society, to help these children grow up healthy. How many young/teen parents do you know with good medical insurance, a stable job, an above poverty level income?

Ok, stepping off soapbox. I'm just saying that I've seen firsthand the effects to both the child and the young parent/s, and it has rarely, if ever, been smooth sailing for them. Of course, I don't know if children are ever "smooth sailing". :)

Melissa said...

I am so with you on this! I had a very dear friend in high school who got pregnant at 14, had her at 15. 15! You aren't even able to drive the baby to the doctor if you need to! Anyways, it was very rough on her, but her parents were very supportive. Fast forward a few years, a friend got pregnant with twins at the age of 20. I saw again how rough it was even at that age! I had my first at 25, second at 27, 3rd at 29 and 4th at32 and its even hard at my age!

In our area, the amount of abused babies in the newspaper has been horrible! 4 in 4 weeks! All of the parents are teen or early twenties, mother at work during second shift, dad watching the baby and "something" happens. It is just so sad!

There is also a young lady in our town who got pregnant at 14 with triplets(!) parents added a "wing on to their house" to take care of babies and mom, mom is now pregnant again at 17 and doesn't understand why people are upset.

I just wish there was something that someone could say to wake these teenagers up! Raising a child is NEVER easy, no matter what your age.