Originally Posted by Synnen
We did that, in my school. And we had high school students come in when I was in junior high.
Guess what? Still got pregnant. And I was practicing safe sex!!
Really, part of the issue is that we expect kids to BE kids when they're teenagers, when they're not really kids anymore--they're something in between.
The last half of this century is the first time, historically, when teenagers were being told NO SEX! Heck, a century ago, they were being married off as teens! So...you're trying to stop centuries worth of instincts in teens, here.
The life span is longer now, and people are less likely to DIE in childbirth (at least in first world countries), but it wasn't always so. I, personally, don't think it's that unusual for a teenage girl to want to get married and have babies--I mean, isn't that what practically every love story out there screams is "happily ever after"?
The problem, again, is parents. We, as adults, have unrealistic expectations of teenagers to begin with. I've met very few people that can remember to NOT treat a 15 year old the same way they treat a 10 year old. They should be given more responsibility, definitely. They should be given respect in relation to how well they handle that responsibility. Half a century ago, teens were EXPECTED to help with household chores and expenses. If they had a job, it was not for the frivolous things most kids now spend their money on. They were expected to put their family first.
Kids today have too much TIME. It used to be that your time after school was in school activities, a part time job (and not just McDonald's, where they dont' expect much from you), or you were helping at home--making dinner, doing chores, helping paint a fence, whatever. You were focusing on your education first, then your family, and somewhere in there was religion. After dinner you studied, and then you went to bed. Where in there was there time for friends? Friends were people you did things with at school activities, or through church, or they lived right next door to you.
Now...with cities bussing kids in from all over, you go to school with people that live nowhere near you. The internet has created a whole new type of friendship, a whole new group of activities.
Both parents working, or one parent working 2 jobs, means less time supervising kids' activities. And society in general just expects less of teens, since they're 'just kids'. A half a century ago, 16 meant you were "almost a man" or "almost a woman" and expected, by everyone, to act accordingly.
What I'm trying to point out is that SOCIETY has changed. Not the kids, not the parenting, not any ONE thing. Society overall has changed, and we're still adjusting to it. Divorces, single parenthood, AIDS, the internet, sexual predators, the whole kit and kaboodle. And we're still figuring out how to make personal happiness and society mesh.