AHAHAHAHAHH! "Baby simulators" backfire and result in more teen motherhood!

[MandaJo]

@puzzlegal

who said that? There’s a major difference between the government trying to discourage tend from child-rearing and their parents doing so.

And I don’t think it’s unfair and manipulative for the schools to teach that, either. I just wonder if it is universally good advice.

Well, SlackerInc doesn’t make a distinction between parents/government, and Spice Weasel explicitly condemns “parental manipulation”.

@SlackerInc

I don’t think teenage girls should be slut-shamed for being sexual beings, and I do think they should get good, accurate sex ed and access to contraception if they want it, but I don’t believe they should be propagandized into considering young motherhood some dire situation to avoid at all costs, and I definitely oppose pressuring them into abortion or adoption.

Does that clear up where I am coming from?

@Spice_Weasel

I agree parental manipulation can be an issue for young pregnant women. This is why I favor open adoption, where the birth parent chooses us, and where we can get to know their situation and make the determination, to the best of our ability, about whether this is truly an empowered choice made by the birth parent or whether they are being pressured into it… and so that the adoption takes place on their own terms, at the level of contact that is comfortable for them, etc. Once someone you love has gone through the heartache of placing a child for adoption you can’t look at the process without seeing also what the birth parent is going through.

[SlackerInc]

@even_sven

SlackerInc is way out there on a lot of subjects.

But the real problem isn’t teen parents. The real problem is that our society is a very difficult place to be a parent in.

The well-off can make up for our lack of paid maternity leave, wildly unequal public schools, bad childcare options, ridiculing healthcare “system” and other issues. But I’d rather see a society that’s set up to support families and children, and where we don’t have to constantly play chicken with out fertility if we hope to be financially stable.

Odd that you say I’m “way out there”, and then go on to write a post that is entirely congruent with my worldview. I guess you’re out there too, sven!

@MandaJo

Late 30s, early 40s can be a great period of time to start building your career, go back to school, etc.–especially if that’s the time the kids are finally grown.

How is this not completely an argument for having your kids young, like I argued for upthread?

[Spice_Weasel]

[QUOTE=SlackerInc;]
How is this not completely an argument for having your kids young, like I argued for upthread?
[/QUOTE]

Because her argument is that when teens have babies, it’s the grandparents in their 30s and 40s who are getting screwed over. When people have children in their late 20s/early 30s they are less likely to disrupt the economic growth of their parents.

The truth of that is dependent largely on culture. I read a study once indicating that for many African American families, this model of waiting to have children makes little sense due to the statistical increase in chronic medical conditions and lower life span of African Americans. Grandma and Grandpa are less likely to be around or able bodied at older ages. Then there are the studies indicating no meaningful difference in life outcomes between teens who had babies and teens who either terminated or lost the pregnancy prior to childbirth. We have to question our assumptions, always, if we are to get at the root of inequality.

[MandaJo]

Because under your system, as soon as my kids are grown, they will have their own and I will need to devote resources to them.

[Reluctant_A]

@Mister_Rik

For what it’s worth, as somebody who actually spends much of his spare time reading … I understood the OPs laughter with no difficulty.

Seriously, I think some people go into every conversation prepared to be offended, and read everything accordingly. Me, I read the words and interpret them the way they’re said. SlackerInc was perfectly clear.

This is probably the eighth-nicest way that I’ve ever been called stupid. So… thanks?
Or did that sound too much like me taking offense? I can never be sure.

[SlackerInc]

@Reluctant_A

This is probably the eighth-nicest way that I’ve ever been called stupid. So… thanks?
Or did that sound too much like me taking offense? I can never be sure.

I didn’t think it was calling you stupid, but rather asserting that you might have been going into the thread with a chip on your shoulder.

[Reluctant_A]

Well, I’d like to think that I wasn’t but, who knows: maybe Mister Rik knows me better than I do?

[BigT]

@SlackerInc

BTW, BigT, that’s mighty two-faced of you to buddy up to me in PMs (which you initiated), and then talk smack about me on the board! :dubious:

Wow. Just wow. Are you really this far removed from morality? I didn’t “buddy up” with you. I sent you a PM about an extension I’d created, since I thought you were unfairly maligned by the mods. I would have sent that PM to fucking madsircool if he were the one who needed it.

What you’re doing now has jack shit to do with any of that. Now you’re once again being a total asshole, and I’m calling you on it. WhyNot was (in an attempt to fight a pile on, which I respect) making up a reason you had never stated, so I told her that. Others had given you the chance to take back your reason, and you doubled down, so I told her that. She asked about your history, so I told her about it.

Just because I did something nice for you doesn’t mean I think well of you. I don’t just do nice things for people I like. That would make me a shitty person.

Plus, you’ve said a lot of shitty things since then. That anti-Muslim thread was pretty much my breaking point on you. Then you went further in the Brock Turner rape thread. And now you’re actually pulling this dirty trick.

[SlackerInc]

Dirty trick? LMAO Oh, you poor thing, victim of a scheming trickster. You’re completely full of shit, Big Crybaby T.

ETA: Since you brought up that other thread, let’s point out that you just tried to smear me there by calling me a Republican, which you know damn well is a lie, since you post in Elections with me, and there is no one who has been more consistent about supporting Democrats and opposing Republicans at every turn than I have been.