# "Love Child"...my, how the times have changed. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2009, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-child-my-how-the-times-have-changed/505622 "2009-08-07T13:03:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-child-my-how-the-times-have-changed/505622/41 "2009-08-10T20:45:29Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Unless the percentage of teens having illegitimate babies has also decreased this is one of of those true but irrelevant facts that are only served up to confuse people. > > Since the number of children born out of wedlock is far, far higher today I doubt it’s true. > > Among black teens (the song was about blacks) three-fourths of all births have been out of wedlock since the 1990s. The odds are three to 1 that a random black teenage mom is unwed, or was at the time of birth. That’s a change. It’s a change if you include whites as well. > > [http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/04/culture-of-success.html](http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/04/culture-of-success.html) Illegitimacy isn’t the issue. Fewer teenagers having children is a good thing, and entirely different from marital status. Having a child as a teenager, or being the child of teenage parents, is associated with worse medical and life outcomes regardless of whether they’re married. The current increase in illegitimate children is entirely due to women [in their 20s or older](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db18.htm); the poorer outcome for children of adult single mothers is predominantly due to lower income, not to the absence of a father or loose morals or any of the stuff conservatives like to rant about. Also see discussion of this topic [here](http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/a-new-trend-in-motherhood/). ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-child-my-how-the-times-have-changed/505622/42 "2009-08-10T22:18:50Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > For the song slant, the other night, my mom was explaining someone as a “love child”–as in born several years after her other siblings…but I only knew the term as an illegitimate child. There is no such thing as an ‘illegitimate child’. It is the parents union that isn’t legit. My two bits. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2009, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-child-my-how-the-times-have-changed/505622/43 "2009-08-10T22:21:55Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > There is no such thing as an ‘illegitimate child’. It is the parents union that isn’t legit. > > My two bits. Well, yeah, but for convenience sake, I don’t know how to really say that. Writing out a child whose parents aren’t married takes a lot longer–no judgment was intended. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-child-my-how-the-times-have-changed/505622/44 "2009-08-11T17:10:00Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Well, yeah, but for convenience sake, I don’t know how to really say that. Writing out a child whose parents aren’t married takes a lot longer–no judgment was intended. Why don’t we just go back to calling them bastards? That wouldn’t offend anybody, right. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-child-my-how-the-times-have-changed/505622/45 "2009-08-11T17:20:14Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > My sister-in-law’s 18-year-old friend went into the jewellery store, child in stroller, and was browsing for a present. She had a heck of a time getting the sales girl’s attention and when she finally came over she was rude and unfriendly. Suddenly the sales girl snapped “Don’t you think you’re a bit too young to have a baby?”. SIL’s friend replied “He’s my nephew”. It wasn’t terribly unreasonable to assume it was her kid. It \*was \*terribly unreasonable to assume it was her business to comment. If I’d been your SIL’s friend, I’d have said “Don’t you think your boss wants my money anyway? And while we’re being all curious, don’t you think your mama should have raised you better?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-child-my-how-the-times-have-changed/505622.md?page=2)