Baby baby

Look who is spending the weekend in our house...
This is Amy.
Baby Amy.
K has been looking forward to this for weeks.
This is part of the 21st Century Living curriculum this quarter. The baby is labeled "realityworks" - like that is all it takes ....
it cries and wants certain things throughout the day and night. K has to figure out what, and register that she is the caregiver by a magnetic bracelet she is wearing.....she is having fun with it, and is very caring even though it is pretend.
But she has realized...it was fun the first few hours. Then, last night, as it had disturbed her dinner and our trip out to Rita's by crying when she wanted to eat, and she was trying to IM on the computer, and it was fussing. All I heard was , "Oh come on....what now..."
Couldn't help but snicker.
I told her I didn't eat a hot meal or read a book for nearly 5 years straight!

K and I have always had an open conversation about sex, and everything that goes with it. But I have also taken the chance with this baby here to remind her, no matter what you think or people tell you, *pregnancy* is a possibility any time you chose to have sex. Period. So unless you are ready for it, don't do it.
And as K put it this morning, after it woke her all night long, and she couldn't go skating last night...."it was fun the first few hours, but after a few months it would get old." Then of course I pointed out to her that she as lucky she didn't have to take care of it for the next 18 years.....

There has also been a lot of conversation about this gal around here lately....apparently the oh so perfect relationship she and her boyfriend had is no longer. Like that is a shock to any of us who live in the real world. But I also have a difficult time with this statement...
"Regardless, Bristol Palin is now a single teen mother, facing all of the challenges those statistics predict, and more." - referenced in this article if you want to read the whole thing.
I am sorry - yes, the statistics of teen pregnancies is staggering - and yes, I feel for her. There is no way on earth we can believe for a minute that this girl is going to be the "typical" teen mother any more than Jamie-Lynn Spears is "typical" - These families have the means to financially support these girls, as well as staff, and otherwise to help. I am sure neither will ever have to worry about who will watch the baby while they finish school and how they will pay for it. They will most certaily never wonder if their is enough milk in the frig or whether there will be heat in the house tonight. Seeing these two prance around with their little strollers and cute little designer outfits is not what our teenagers need to be seeing. Let's show them the teen mothers standing in line at county services applying for their WIC checks, or in the grocery store line calculating how much their food stamps are going to cover. Fathers working minimum wage jobs trying to feed their young family. Most parents I would hope ,would not desert their children no matter the decisions they made - but the truth of the matter is , some do, and very few families have the means to support these kids, and their babies. As much as I would love and try to help care for a child, should it happen, I work...we pay our own bills...I couldn't baby sit, and feed another baby, nor do I really have the desire to that again at my age....that is reality. I have also let my kids learn their lesssons through life's consequences, and while I would never let my daughter live in squallor could I help it, I will also not make it "all better" for her by totally supporting her and a baby.

I am the product of a teen pregnancy...proof that we do not all wind up statistics...(Actually my mom had three children by the time she was 18)...but only because my parents both had extremely supportive families. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. But we also grew up in a trailer, in cheap clothes, one pair of shoes a season...no money.....they did not stay together and live happily ever after...that is another story all together...
..but I always knew I was loved. That mattered.