Teen Parenting: An Alternative Perspective

I was a teen parent in the late 1950s, when getting married was virtually the only way to go. I am so grateful now that abortion was not a viable option. My beautiful daughter turned fifty last year. She is a ceramic artist and mother to a young adult son. Her younger brother is a sixth-grade teacher and musician, as well as father to two wonderful young adults. Even though my marriage to their father was difficult and ultimately ended in divorce, I would not change having had my children as a teen.

I returned to school late in life, at age 46, and have since completed a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. I worked for ten years as a therapist in the foster care system. As a therapist to several teen moms, I saw the downside of teen pregnancy, too.

All of this led to my writing a novel about teen pregnancy in foster care, intended to show an alternative approach to teen pregnancy. Rather than treating it like a disaster, the purpose of the book is to help the teen grow into a responsible, caring parent. We’ve been fighting nature on this one long enough. Perhaps becoming a young parent should be an option, and teens should be educated about both the challenges and rewards of parenting. Paradoxically, I think this approach might even reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy. And, those teens who do become pregnant would be actively supported in becoming good parents.