What Do Girls Want?!

Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High
By KATHLEEN KINGSBURY Wednesday, Jun. 18, 2008
As summer vacation begins, 17 girls at Gloucester High School are expecting babies — more than four times the number of pregnancies the 1,200-student school had last year.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html

17 girls decided to make a pact and get pregnant at the same time to raise their babies together. Whenever something like this happens, adults (especially parents) tend to look for sources to blame. Some people have blamed movies like Juno and Knocked Up; others blame young super stars who are pregnant. Other people have blamed the school for making pregnancy test available or for embracing young mothers “too good.” I believe these people who are so quick to look for things to blame, are people who do not want to open their eyes to reality. They are missing what is important to these girls.
In the article, they tell a story about a girl who was pregnant at the age of 18; and when she was interviewed, she said that other girls were saying to her “how lucky she was to have a baby and to finally have someone to love her unconditionally," These teen girls like many other ones, are missing something in their lives; and that is exactly what parents, principals and other adults around them do not want to admit. Younger than 16, these girls are still children. These girls don’t even know why they did this. They say they did it because of the pact they made. The reality is that these teen girls and teenagers in general are looking for someone who would love them unconditionally. Not matter how they look, not matter what they wear, not matter what their grades are, they want to feel accepted and loved. As simple as it might sound, it is easy for parents to get busy and caught up with other things and to neglect our kids. And it is also easy for school officials to offer birth control pills instead of looking into what is causing this. When these girls were going to the school nurse to take pregnancy tests, the nurse should have notified their parents. Parents are notified when their kids take an aspirin during school; why not notify them when their children take a pregnancy test?
It is time for parents and school officials to stop playing the blame game (that is just for politicians) and work together for the welfare of our precious children.