Thanks for dropping by my little place here in Shreveport, Louisiana. I hope to get your opinion on the topic below. Please join in the discussion by leaving your comment and you automatically get an entry into my giveaway pool!
Giveaways:
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I’m writing today because I’d like your opinion on something. Recently, while speaking to a mom of a teen-age daughter, I found myself embroiled in a discussion which caused me great angst. I mean, the conversation literally caused me to go into full migraine headache mode (my poor head).
This mom of a 15 year old who delivered a baby a few months ago, shared with me how her daughter’s newborn son, accompanies his teen-age mother to school every day. Confused, I asked, “Well, how can she focus on her schoolwork if she has to care for the baby at the same time?” This mom then shared that the entire school district where her daughter attends school, has a nursery/daycare on the campus of every high school in the district to accommodate teen moms. After hearing this, I went completely numb. Hence the beginning of our discussion (debate). I mean, if your conversation is going to cause me to go numb, then you can bet your bottom dollar, we’re gonna talk about it!
I shared with her my disappointment in hearing this, and how I whole-heartedly disagree with the idea of daycare centers on high school campuses. I said, “If a school district has to have daycare centers on EVERY HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUS in their district, then they have a major problem with teen-age pregnancies. The focus then, in my opinion, should not be on adding daycare centers to school campuses and accommodating these teenagers, but on how to rectify the major problem…that of the number of teen pregnancies of their female student body.”
In my opinion (and as you can see, I have lots of these), having daycare centers on these school campuses is like slapping a band-aid on an open sore…it’s not going to heal the real problem, just cover it up, so to speak. Instead of spending that money on campus daycare centers, how about putting it to even greater use…like educating these girls in a different manner on how these poor decisions will impact their lives and their entire futures. How about we put that money into special programs to teach these girls how NOT TO become teen-age moms? I mean, since the school is offering free childcare for these teenage moms, what’s going to keep them from repeating the act? What’s going to keep them from going off having another…and another, and yet another? Who’s policing these possible serial teenage moms?
Here is where we should all begin to miss “the villages” of old…the ones that it took to raise a child; the ones that cared enough to go above and beyond, to do whatever it took to ensure that not only their kids, but all the kids around them, excelled at life? What happened to those?
I often hear people say “Times have changed,” but you know what, just because the world is changing in every arena, doesn’t mean you have to. I know you saw this one coming, but if all the world decides to one day drink poison and lay down on the ground and die, are you going to join them? What about that cliff ahead? I see they’re all getting ready to jump…have you suddenly sprouted wings, too? I would like to think that you have your own mind, you think with your own mind, and you would make up your own mind to do the right thing if you were ever faced with either of these situations. Just because some feel as if it’s ‘old fashioned’ and “no one does that anymore,” doesn’t mean you have to buy into that common mentality.
Stand for something, or you will fall for anything. Remember having that drilled into your head as a child? I do. Again, I ask, where have those villages gone?
I’d like to hear from you. What are your thoughts on these high-school campus daycare centers? Are they encouraging more of the same or, are they meeting a very serious problem head on?
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Here’s a solution to the problem…
“THE GOOD MOMMIES’ GUIDE TO RAISING (ALMOST) PERFECT DAUGHTERS”
(During a recent phone conversation with an old friend of mine, she asked: “You’re not a grandma yet?” I replied: “Have you received a wedding invitation from us?” She said, “No.” I responded, “Well, if you haven’t received a wedding invite first, then you shouldn’t be expecting a baby announcement.” You see, in our home, the cart doesn’t go before the horse.)
#HighStandardsInOurHome
#EvenHigherExpectations
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