This series on single mothers started in the NG over the weekend, but I'm just catching up:
Did you realize that nearly half the babies born in East Central Illinois are to single women?
We asked the three largest hospitals in the area to keep track of their births in March, for instance, and found that 47 percent of the women who gave birth in Champaign and Vermilion counties were unmarried. Most were white, aged 15 to 39. Public aid paid for most of the births to unwed moms.
Also:
- More moms are unmarried - and for many, it's a choice
- Being single and a mom - one woman's story
- Black mothers more likely to be unmarried
The entire piece was offensive if you ask me. "Who needs a husband?" Well, the real question is, "who needs a dad?" Answer: every child. And it should be a man serving in a first-person role... not grandpa, uncle joe, or mentor bob..
The bit about public aid reminded me of an economic analysis of teen mothers at freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/is-teen-pregnancy-cool-or-is-it-just-the-economy/
The striking result is that "[Poor teen mothers] have about the same long-term earnings trajectories as similarly disadvantaged youth who wait until their mid or late twenties to have a child."
Apparently if your economic prospects aren't so good then having kids early makes sense. You're living with your parents, you get special consideration to care for your child while at school, and you qualify for Medicare/Welfare easily. Does this make sense to people? I don't know much about how any of these public services work, so please correct me if I'm wrong.
"Apparently if your economic prospects aren't so good then having kids early makes sense."
I honestly don't even know where to begin, except to point out that kids having kids never makes sense, and is never a good idea, no matter how simplistic your analysis is.
Of the age group this article discusses, only a small portion of the age range are "teens"---15-19. The rest would be adults.
A good empathic teenager is always going to be a better parent that 20 or 30 somethings with crappy parenting skills.
That being said, minus those skills, it's even harder to raise a child as a teenager, especially considering how you are likely to be treated if you are not the kid of privilege.
What kinds of things are typically done to teenage parents lacking privilege?
Actually, I think you'll find that, of that group, 25% are adults.