Jamie Lynn Spears makes motherhood look glamorous... but what are the real costs?
Filed under: Home, Kids and Money, Career, Wealth, Relationships
Jamie Lynn Spears (sister of Britney) is on the cover of the latest edition of OK! Magazine holding her newborn daughter, Maddie. Looking beautiful and rested, she is quoted as saying "Being a mom is the best feeling in the world." A teenage icon, Jamie Lynn is the star of Nickelodeon's "Zoe 101," and idolized by millions of young girls. Pregnant at 16 and a mother by age 17, Jamie Lynn is described in the article as living in "domestic bliss."
Great message for the kids. Maybe it works this way for wealthy celebrities, but for most teens the happily ever after ending doesn't happen. In real life, teen pregnancy traps women in a cycle of low paying jobs and poverty. In fact, teen parents are nine times more likely to live in poverty long term.
Adolescents who become pregnant are less likely to marry and more likely to drop out of school. Without job skills, they become trapped in the cycle of low paying jobs and ever increasing bills. As any experienced parent know, children are cheap when they are little, but they become more expensive as time goes by. Many teen moms, however, barely look past the image of cuddling a cute little baby when planning their futures.
And this lack of planning costs all of us. We contribute about $6.9 billion yearly for welfare and Medicaid payments that go to unwed mothers. Too often, this cycle of teen pregnancies continues for generations leaving fractured, poor families.
Which brings us back to Jamie Spears. The media sent exactly the wrong message with this cover on OK! Magazine. As a hero to millions of teenage girls, her pregnancy not only looks OK, it looks glamorous and exciting. Even the title over the picture tells the reader it is OK.
Guess what? It's not.
Barbara Bartlein, RN, CSP, is the People Pro. She offers keynotes, seminars and consulting to help you build your business and balance your life. She is the author of Why Did I Marry You Anyway? Overcoming the Myths That Hinder a Happy Marriage. For more relationship tips, please visit: Marriage Tips. For Barb's free e-mail newsletter, visit: The People Pro.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-13-2008 @ 9:57AM
PaulaW said...
I don't think the media "promotes" teen pregnancy. What I have experienced is the media does not take it's social responsibility on how it actually effects the real world. I am a recent grandmother, yes from a teenage daughter. We did speak openly to our daughter about sex and all the facts, for years before she became sexually active..We had an open communication. And that wasn't enough. What I believe the media needs to do is show the reality of what happens when you become a teenage statistic. and my biggest problem is the media makes it all about the girls. WHAT ABOUT THE DAMN BOYS/MEN that are the fathers and also engage in the acts??? I think as a society we also need to make the male counterparts more aware of the consequences of sex. MEDIA please stop portraying the girls as societies only problem. Lets help make a solution to the problem. My daughter finished HS as scheduled. Her and her partner are responsible for my grandson. That was my "deal", she was not quitting school, and if they chose to keep the baby, it was their responsibility to figure things out,They were informed this was not about playing house when they felt like it! What angers me is today's society doesn't support when kids make a mistake, they don't forgive, and they don't help with a solution. I will say, Thank you, as for TV's newest show's, Secret Life of an American teenager and baby borrowers, a year too late for my family. But having the experience now will hopefully make the teen pregnancy rates drop. But we need to teach our children the consequenes, responsibilities not only on the themselves, but also the the parents of the teen/families. Because according to law, you are still responsible for your teen until 18, even when they are a parent in most states. I chose to not have any more children, but I was still responsible for her and her baby. and lastly, I would of supported my child with any decision she made, whether it be abortion or adoption, and keeping it, and I will say my grandson is beautiful and I love him!
Reply
8-13-2008 @ 11:32AM
Katherine said...
PaulaW makes a great comment on helping with boundaries children who have children.
My daughter had her daughter at 19 and then went back to school with my help early on. With time she became an expert at finding grants and scholorships.
She has just graduated from Berkeley where there was a support system for her as a single mother. Her daughter even traveled with her with help from the university. She graduated with a masters in Journalism and in Latin American Studies.
As a freelance writer she is able to work around her daughters activities.
Remembering as a grandmother that the child belongs to the child and is not yours is important to buidling the bond between parent and child.