What’s the difference between Parenthood and Teenage Adults?
I no there’s a lot difference such as experience, patience’s, and money wise. But some that I have discuss this with believe its the same. Many of friends are popping up pregnant but believe its bad as of now!!! So I need your help in explain why and more difference.
March 16th, 2011 at 1:22 am
They are just words for the same thing. You can be a teenager with a child, and since you’re a parent, it’s parenthood.
But yes, teenage parents and adult parents due usually differ in how prepared they are to be a parent, for obvious reasons. A teenager doesn’t even know how to do taxes, let alone raise a successful child. Then again, a lot of adult parents fail too.
March 16th, 2011 at 2:07 am
I’ve known a 16 year old who was more responsible than the average 30 year old. And I’ve known a number of 30 year olds who acted less responsible than your average 16 year old. I have concluded that chronological age is not a reliable measure for taking on responsibilities and the privileges that come with them. That includes raising a family, driving a car, drinking alcohol, voting, etc.. What we need is a better system.
That being said, when a person is responsible, it comes down to ability. A young person is generally not as able (financially) to care for a family as an older person. But there are definitely exceptions there too. I’ve met a few 19 year olds who were wealthier and mrore financially stable than I am today.
March 16th, 2011 at 3:04 am
I’m assuming you are asking what the difference is between teenage parents and parents who are considered adults. These are generic ideas used to argue that a teenager is less prepared or responsible while adults are more prepared and responsible, etc. The fact is, teenagers can at times (and do at times) make great parents while adults can at times (and do at times) make terrible parents. This is not to say that I think that teenagers should freely give birth with no regard to anything else. But anyone, teenager or adult, should have several things in place before considering having children. Preferably, they should be in a stable, healthy relationship: free of drugs, free of abuse of any kind, financially stable and responsible, where both partners consider the relationship to be permanent (just my opinion, but I think marriage is important), and where there are long term goals present for the couple and their soon-to-be family.
In my opinion, the problem with teenagers is that they are often still developing as individuals, and no amount of trying to explain this to them will make them realize that there are a lot of experiences that teach them things that they haven’t had time to learn yet. They often feel like adults already, feel that they are mature enough to make tremendously complex decisions, like having sex and possibly children, before they are even old enough to attend college or vote. (I know those things aren’t necessary to child rearing, but they are recognized maturity milestones.) This is not true of all teens, but I think a good many teens think they know what they want and what they like and what they feel only to discover in a few years’ time that those things weren’t what they wanted or liked at all and that their feelings have changed a lot. Those few years give teens the chance to realize what is really important to them and which things they were clinging to because someone else told them it was important. Those few years help teens to see a bigger picture than high school or just having fun.
Children deserve parents who are ready to be parents, no matter what the age of the parents is. If the parents are still trying to hold onto the glory days, be the center of attention, or figure out who they are and what they want out of life, it is very unfair to bring a child into the picture.