Teen Pregnancy: Teen Reflections

Listen (4 minutes)

The Casey teen journalists began the week of daily broadcasts by reflecting on why they chose the topic of Teen Parenting.

FULL SCRIPT:

HOST INTRO:   Every four hours a baby is born to a Colorado girl who’s between 15 and 17 years old.  30% of Colorado students engaging in sexual activity have reported they did not use a condom the last time they had sexual intercourse, according to The Colorado Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting, and Prevention.  Studies indicate that teen mothers are less likely to complete high school, more likely to be single parents, and more likely to live in poverty than other teens.  This week, we’re looking at teen pregnancy, through the eyes of Casey Middle School  journalism students.  Let’s listen in now, as these young teen journalists explain why they chose the topic of teen parenting:

I’m Alix and I’m Natalie. And we’re 8th graders at Casey Middle School. We hope you’ll join us this week for a special series on teen parenting. I think why we started this project to let people know the reality of teen parenting. This is really important to us because last year, we had teen moms at our school. Talking to girls who were in our position a year ago, it changes things. It makes it a reality like, wow. It really showed me that that could be me. You have to make sure that you’re really being responsible because they were exactly where we are this year.

As part of this project, we went to Fairview to talk to teen moms who are teen moms in the Fairview Teen Parenting program. It was really interesting to talk to them and see how they’d changed. And we want to share one of our opinions now. Here’s one of the sessions we had about our views on teen parenting.

TEAM MEMBER 1

I think important for older people to hear both sides of the story. Adults judge teen parents. They say they’re not capable of handling a kid yet. That’s why it’s good to hear both sides of the story.

SHELLEY

Are teen parents capable of handling kids?

TEAM MEMBER 1

The ones we interviewed? Yeah. They seemed really responsible. Well, the ones we interviewed.

TEAM MEMBER 2

One was saying she’s a lot happier than she was before, now that she has a kid. She used to go to Casey, and I feel like she’s changed a lot.

TEAM MEMBER 3

Even though they’re teenagers with kids, it’s still their kid. And granted, it would make more sense to wait to have a kid, but it’s happened, and they can only move forward. And it’s not all as sad or as bad as people make it out to be. It’s sad, because they have the rest of their life to have a kid, and it’s happening right now, but it’s happy because they’re having a kid, and once you get past them being a teenager with a kid then it’s . . . good. Not good but . . . . It’s like, once they’re a mom, they’re a mom. You don’t have to stress that they are a teen mom. They know that already, but they can only move forward.

TEAM MEMBER 4

People make it like it is a big deal, and they over-exagerate about how teen moms live. And interviewing them, we found out how their lives really are and how they’ve changed.

TEAM MEMBER 2

As kids, they can still go to school and they still have friends and they can have a part-time job. They can still do everything. Except that they have to take care of a kid, on top of it. They handle it better than I thought, but after seeing it, it’s so much work.

TEAM MEMBER 3

I want to be grown up and be in a position in my life where I know it’s okay to have a kid, for me.

TEAM MEMBER 4

I don’t plan on being a teen mom because, my sister’s a teen mom, and it’s not easy, being a teen parent.

Thanks for listening to our opinions on teen parenting, and we hope you’ll listen more later this week. For KGNU and Casey Middle School, I’m Natalie, and I’m Alix.

HOST CONCLUSION: Tune into the morning magazine all this week for more stories from the teen journalists. And on Thursday morning at 8:35, for their call-in show. Special thanks to Casey Journalism teacher Lee Lazar, to school psychologist Carla Friedli, and to KGNU’s Shelley Schlender for producing this series.