Children Having Children

Our teenage years are meant to be enjoyed. Sure, there's high school, homework and college applications to think about. But the rest of the time is usually spent texting friends, shopping for the hottest trends and having crushes. Sometimes those crushes turn into boyfriends. And sometimes pregnancy is the result.

For the first time in 15 years teenage pregnancy is on the rise. Over the past year ABC has followed four families who are dealing with teen pregnancies and all of its consequences and airs a documentary tackling this difficult topic: Primetime: Family Secrets that airs on Tuesday, June 23rd at 10pm EST.

Along with following pregnant teens and hearing the reality of how teenage pregnancy really changes things, two different schools of thought regarding talking to kids about sex. There's the abstinence approach and there's the approach that assumes that kids are going to have sex. Not a lot of happy medium, I know, but two very different extremes. Perhaps we should stress moderation and see what happens? Just my two cents worth.

I plan to watch this because, even though my daughter's only 6, I realize that in our culture kids are having sex and becoming sexually aware WAY before they're in their teens. With all I've read about kids (yes, kids) sending pics of themselves naked to friends of the opposite sex, and propositions initiated by girls (did you see Oprah a few weeks ago?), I realize that things have changed a LOT since I was a teen and I want to be as prepared as possible. This is an important subject and the more parents can do to educate ourselves and our children, the more decisions will be made that aim toward a hopeful future.