Jesus… this news item is depressing…
http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=4621&cat=HOME
Is there any hope left in New Mexico for the 50 percent of children born to single moms? What went wrong down there, and how can it be avouded in other parts of the US?
Can it be? Sure, it’s fifty percent in NM, but it’s still a third nationally.
Poverty, illegal immigration, and a culture of youth and machismo strike me as primary causes.
Well, the OP’s apparent assumption that all children born to single mothers are doomed to a life of suffering and/or criminality seems a bit over the top.
Nevertheless, in the same spirit, here are some options:
Make unprotected sex between unmarried, different-sex partners illegal
Force fathers to marry the women they made pregnant
Force abortions on single women made pregnant
Throw the weight of the state behind the Christian concept of sex only within marriage, and grant the Church powers of enforcement.
Find any you like yet?
Sorry, I guess the above comes off as a bit snide, but I don’t see a viable solution to this particular problem except, well, a greater sense of responsibility by the persons involved. But how does one legislate greater responsibility?
Maybe a greater effort in the educational system to demonstrate the consequences of (presumably) unwanted pregnancies and the reduction in economic options faced by single mothers, but otherwise, I don’t wsee much thqat would not do more harm than good.
You forgot a few:
Abandon the failed policy of abstinence only.
Provide medically accurate sexuality education that begins in kindergarten and continues in an age-appropriate manner through the 12th grade.
Provide easy and confidential access to family planning services through clinics, school-linked health centers, and condom availability programs.
Publicly fund contraceptive services for low income teens.
Well, I did promote the idea of greater education on these matters, but you said it much more specifically than I did. Cheers.
I’m curious as to how “single mother” is defined. Does it mean that the mother is completely alone or does it just mean unmarried? If it means solely unmarried, it doesn’t mean that the children are growing up in a single parent household. The baby’s daddy could be there but just doesn’t want to/believe in marriage. (and not that there’s anything wrong with a single parent household).
When I become emperor of the United States, there will be birth control in the water supply. If you want to have a child, you can receive the birth control antidote by submitting an application to your local secretary of state office. Your request will be fulfilled as long as a) you are financially capable of supporting a child (you’re not on welfare), and b) you have either a high school diploma, GED, or certificate of completion of a responsible parenting class.
I would make a good emperor.
You have got to be kidding me. You want sex ed in kindergarden? Are children even allowed to be children anymore?
Lord Ashtar, Fear said “age-appropriate” sex ed. Yes, we want them to be kids. That’s why we need to teach them how to not MAKE kids. Babies having babies is a real childhood killer.
And, Zuma…“Bastard” is such an ugly term. Rather insulting to the child, don’t you think?
--- Kalhoun (unmarried mom)Do you think that kindergarten kids don’t know what their dingers are, and that it feels good to hold onto them, no matter how publicly?
He’s not proposing Billy to bring daddy’s anal beads or mom’s hardcore hermaphroditic pron in for show and tell. A basic understanding that a baby doesn’t come from a stork but from mommy and daddy being together would be a nice start. Kids do ask these questions. No need to keep the ignorance machine pumping until they’re of the majority age.
No offense, but if any significant portion of the 50% are from illegal immigrants, how is sex ed in the public schools going to help?
I am presuming that illegal immigrants do not, by and large, attend public schools in the US. Sex ed in Mexican schools, maybe?
Regards,
Shodan
Well, looking at history, most kids understood vaguely what sex was by the time they could walk and talk. People lived in very small houses: often everyone slept in the same room. Families simply ignored it. Not that I expect parents didn’t try to get the kids out of the house some weekends for a little “stone-age romantic encounters” 
Seriously, I think a bigger problem in this is that we expect kids to remain kids for too long. Fact is, we should probably be married at age 16, and surely at age 18. Who knows? It may be that having "kids" grow up together in the last years of their pre-adult phase might help them learn to deal with each other for the rest of their lives. While I don't condone spousal abuse, although God alone knows whether it was more or less prevalent before 'modern times', I believe that true monogamy is very important, and I don't mean the serial monogamy crap they have now. i also think people would be a lot happier if they looked for a good friend to marry and love rather than looking for ramance straight out of the bottle...Wow, ummm,
you seem to be making alot of assumptions here.
that poverty is positively associated with pregnancy out of wedlock (it probably is, but without a cite, it’s still an assumption)
that being an illegal immigrant is positively associated with pregnancy out of wedlock
that there exists a “culture of youth” in new mexico.
that a “culture of youth” is positively associated with pregnancy out of wedlock (it would also help if you could define culture of youth)
Machismo. I’d really like to know what you mean by that, and how it’s linked to people having babies out of wedlock.
How about a very public and noisy website that posts the names of all the fathers (or mothers) that won’t accept responsibility for thier kids? It would be a list you just DON’T want to be on…the enforecement of responsible parenting through social humiliation.
Shodan said, “I am presuming that illegal immigrants do not, by and large, attend public schools in the US. Sex ed in Mexican schools, maybe?”
I believe they DO attend school. They don’t have to prove citizenship to get into most schools. They just have to prove they have an address within the district. Many families come to America for the educational benefits.
Also, many of them share the same green card. I worked in a place that provided work for unskilled laborers. One day someone looked up someone’s green card SSN and it turned out a dozen or so of our employees were using the same number.
Single parenthood isn’t the worst thing in the world. If one is in a reasonable financial situation and has some sort of support network (say, a close extended family) I’d say that single parenthood shouldn’t even qualify as a “problem” that needs to be “fixed”.
Perhaps instead of fighting the trend we can work on encouraging extended families to stick together, creating a culture where single parenthood and employment work together a bit better (say, more childcare options), and generally tweaking a few things so that they are as “set up” for single parents as they are for dual parents, we’d see the problems associated with single parenthood disipate.
Band Name!
I envision sort of a Punk-latino fusion band…