Teen Planned Pregnancies, THINK BEFORE YOU ACT Options

[ParanoidAndroid]

I wrote this just incase someone here who is a teen wants a baby

I read an article recently and it stated how 20% of Teen Pregnancies are Planned Sure that's not much, but still.... The article stated that one of the reasons that are mostly used by the teenage moms are, "Because I thought it would be as fun and easy as babysitting"

Alright before you decide anything like that let me tell you something. I KIND OF know from experience since I had to take care of my baby neice all by myself for 10 weeks.

Sure it's as fun as baby sitting but here are some down sides

Diaper= You have to pay for the diaper. Sure it sounds cheap, but we're talking about PACKS here. Most diapers go up more than 9$ and my sister usually buys 20 of them each month for her baby.

Main Expenses = When you want a baby, it literally means moving out of your parents house and starting your own. Nowadays houses can go up to $300, 000 dollors MINIMUM depending on the area (max price is somewhere around $1 million dollors... talking about normal houses here). Rental houses can go up to $4000 - $25, 000. Plus the tax. Once you buy the house you have to pay for a yearly tax for the government. If you want to raise a child in a safe community, it will pay because the safer the area the more expensive. A rich suburban area somewhere in southern NY costs $12,000 a year for yearly tax and no that's part of your house expense, you have to pay for that seperately. But the more dangerous and poor community you go to, the cheapter (but i suggest not going there anyways). Also when you have a job, the government takes away 15% of your earnings. For example if you earn $30,000 a year, 15% of that will be taken away (it's a little more than you think).
Also there are electricity bills, residential bills, AND college tuition to think about. If you have a baby as a teen and it was planned, you really are stupid because how do you think you can get your baby into a college that can cost more than about $16,000 of tuition? Also you will have to pay for the child's clothing, food, and other needs.

Less Opportunities = Teen pregnancies usually means "get out of school because you're too busy". For as much as you know, teenagers that don't graduate high school can only earn up to about $9 an hour for minimum. Plus, how can you get high-paying jobs to help support your family as a teen? Also, the baby will really slow you down. You'll need someone to take care of it for you while you work overtime. Sure relatives are there for you, but sometimes, there are teens who are arrogant enough to think they don't need relatives .

So Finish College First = If you finish college before you have a baby, it will go a lot easier for you (duh). You can get a job that can pay up to $30 an hour depending on the career you choose.

So be Safe and Be Wise before you decide something big on your own. If you want to have a baby and you're a teen. Think about what I just said and consult your parents first

[Heewee]

I think that you brought up a lot of really good reasons of why not to have a baby before you're really ready to take care of it. Unfortunately, there are a lot of unresponsible parents out there that don't give their children the support, attention, and love that they need and deserve. One of the top reasons that teenage girls plan to get pregnant is because they want to have somebody that will love them unconditionally. They don't realize how much of a demanding, nonstop responsibility parenting can be. To those girls that are feeling like they need more love in their life, I suggest a few thing:
1) Try talking to your parents and doing more things as a family.
2) If you're not able to do more things as a family, try to see if you can start seeing a counselor or a therapist on a weekly basis. There are more people that see these types of people than you may think and it's not necessarily a bad thing. They'll be able to help you work through your problems and strengthen your relationships.
3) If neither of the above work out, try to talk to a teacher, counselor, social worker, or principal at work. If they aren't the right person to talk to, they should be able to direct you to the right person. Just having somebody to talk to every now and then should help you. They should be able to give you some suggestions and help you to go from there.