Teen Mothers

I am currently taking a sociology class focused on marriages and families. The chapter that I am reading now discusses families in the workplace and economic status. One point that I found particularly interesting about the chapter was that unwed teenage mothers were the poorest people in the U.S. I think that oftentimes when a teenage becomes a parent, their future goals seem to deteriorate and they take any kind of job they can get to raise their child(ren). Personally, I think that state agencies and parents are to blame. In my personal experience, my parents didn't provide me with the support that I needed. They talked down to me, belittled me, and treated me like I was a horrible kid. I think parents need to be educated about what to do when their child becomes a parent. That has to be one of the hardest things about being a parent; learning that your teenage daughter is going to have a baby and become a parent herself. And at the adolescent age, girls are reluctant to talk openly with their parents. Someone needs to intervene and educate so the family can survive.

When a teen mother gets on state aid, they do little to make her better for the future. Sure, they provide her with benefits that she could otherwise not afford: food stamps, medical assistance, daycare subsidies. But they fail to help these girls finish their education, strive for a degree, or teach them skills they could use in the workforce. What I hope to do when I obtain my degree is to help young mothers secure a future for themselves and their child(ren). I want to provide support for these girls that they otherwise don't have, teach them skills they can use to get a decent job, and help them get financial aid and scholarships that they didn't know existed. There is so much negativity shed on teenage mothers, but what is being done to stop it?

I think there is so much that needs to be done to help teen parents. If we don't help, who will?