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Jamie Lynn Spears Story Glamorizes Teen Pregnancy
By Christina Quick | July 9, 2008
Jamie Lynn Spears, who became pregnant at 16 and recently gave birth to a daughter at 17, says being a teen mom is “so much fun.”
“I love taking care of her,” Spears told OK! magazine, sounding like a little girl with a new doll. “It is so much fun. I just want to hug her and kiss her, and I’m happy all the time.”
The magazine reportedly paid $1 million for exclusive coverage of the birth, including photos of Spears’ infant.
Meanwhile, Spears — sister of pop star Britney Spears and star of the Nickelodeon show “Zoey 101″ — gushes that she looks forward to being a soccer mom.
I’m glad Spears didn’t decide to have an abortion as many girls her age have done. If she’s willing to accept responsibility for the life she helped create, that’s a positive thing.
On the other hand, it seems irresponsible for OK! — which has a large following among adolescent girls — to glamorize teen pregnancy. Immature readers may not realize having a baby is about more than hugs and kisses and dress-up time. They may not consider that, unlike Spears, most teen moms live in poverty. The idealistic image of trendy soccer moms living in gated communities and driving SUVs seldom applies to young, high school drop-outs struggling to raise children alone.
I hope parents of teen girls will explain these realities to their daughters and talk to them about God’s plan for sexuality and marriage.
I can agree with Jamie Lynn Spears about one thing: parenting is a joy. But, like sex, it’s best reserved for the right time in life.
Topics: In the news |
July 11th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
The Jamie Lynn Story grieves my heart. Seriously. It’s one of the worst stories of the year. Comments like the ones that are quotes in this story show such a gross misunderstanding of parenting. Will she get to continue teeny bopping while a nanny comes to her aide during issues of colic, all-nighters, the flu, etc. Parenting is not all fun. “Joy” and “fun” are too very, very different things. I don’t think that Jamie Lynn understands or feels the “joy” that you do, Christina. Jamie Lynn is having “fun” because she is playing house, and there’s a grown-up behind her doing the real work. Meanwhile there are teen-agers around the country like you reported on last week making pregnancy pacts because of role models like Jamie Lynn. And the fall-out? The children who end up being raised by nannies, empty and hollow and just wanting to be loved by REAL parents. *sigh* … at least these babies are getting fed and probably not physically abused …