by Rick Lowe
Tucked away on page A6 of the Saturday, November 17, 2012 issue of the Nassau Guardian, reporter Travis Cartwright-Carroll highlights a problem that impacts us all. Teen pregnancy.
He points out that, according to the PACE Foundation, on average 700 teenage girls are having children.
This is a tragedy in more ways than one. The children usually have no father, in the sense that they are not there to provide the necessary support through the child's life. Their mother is generally ill equipped for the work force because of losing ground with her education during her pregnancy etc. Not to mention the fate of the children in later years.
This is an issue I would think all the political leaders and Bahamians in general can speak out on in some unison? It's also one the Christian Council might spend some more time on? Yet, we are all relatively silent?
It's not that we should expect our children to be prude's. To the contrary. But this appears to be one of the issues helping tear our society apart. When young mothers and their children see no hope of a bright future it must impact their lives tremendously.
The big question is a solution. A more pronounced public discussion would at least be a step in the right direction.
What's your take?
Another symptom of a dysfunctional society?
What about the whole revenue scheme that has grown up around absentee parenthood?
Multiple fathers being chased around yielding $20 each when caught up with, has become mainstream and defacto acceptable.
More symptoms …. if we keep it up, soon we will get to the causes of this very serious social problem and then, and only then, can we start to consider ways to remedy this vexing situation!
Here we go again.. Study after study, over the past twenty-five years, has shown that teenagers with positive character values and high levels of self-esteem do not get involved or use drugs, alcohol or tobacco to the degree of their opposite counterparts.. Just as striking, the levels of teen and preteen pregnancy is significantly lower among girls that have a positive sense of self-worth and high self-esteem.. Just take a closer look at our youth that use drugs and the youth that get pregnant.. They are totally lost in their respective communities and having no self-respect or respect for others.. Until this issue is addressed in our school system, we can expect little improvement or progress in the character development and academic achievement of our youth.. Its time for the government to act, but unfortunately they have no meaningful ideas of what to do or even where to begin..
Teen pregnancy should be stopped. Both mother’s and children’s have a higher risk of living in poverty.