Parenting

We had the span of a class period to find a story, interview someone in the community, then write a report on that story. I worked on this story alongside photojournalism major Alanna Sparks.

Parenting

Written by Alanna Sparks and Chelsea Grobelny

Many problems face young parents. According to hhs.gov about twenty-seven percent of girls aged fifteen to nineteen are teen parents. Out of that seventeen percent of those births are at least the second child. From thenationalcampaign.org roughly twenty-five percent of girls under twenty years of age are going to become pregnant by time they reach twenty. On top of that information, daughters of teen mothers are three times more likely to become teen mothers themselves, thus continuing the cycle. Less then two percent of teen mothers finish college and obtain a degree. Professor Lane Demas works at Central Michigan University in the history department. He walked with his young son Drexler near Wightman Hall and Powers Hall on October 9, 2015. Many problems face young parents, but Lane’s biggest piece of advice is to “enjoy it but don’t have kids too soon.”

Many people wonder if young couples are capable of raising a child. There are a copious amount of different ideas such as what religion they should be raised, where should they go to school, or even what type of parenting tactics should be used. For example for parenting styles there are at least three different types, all of which produce different results and fit with different personalities. All of these choices are important to the child’s wellbeing and multiple sources suggest researching the different choices and choosing which one will suit you and your family best. When asked what he hopes for Dexler, Demas says as long as his son is happy, healthy, and has morals “I’ll be very happy.”