Who is to blame for teenage pregnancy? I have just been going through a thread on single mothers ,and majority of you can attest we have an increasingly high and an alarming growth in numbers of teenage pregnancy. I was surprised when a customer of mine, on enquiring how her younger sister is doing(sister is in form 4,she used to tag along with big siz kuja kwa biz kunigotea),she told me huyo sister yake alipata mtoto,and she as the older sibling she has to bear most of the burde ie ,kumwoshea mpaka nguo za mtoto @Finest wine ,huwa naona you are a sensible person .What do you think is ailing todays teens ,especially young girls?
The gals are extremely horny…when they go back to school they brag about their sexual escapades with older men and no gal wants to be left behind …peer pressure manenos yet they are not conscious enough to practise safe sex
Few, if any, social consequences…
True ,peer pressure goes way deep even into adult relationships, the friends/circles we are in influence our lifestyles to some extent.
Poor parenting. Period.
Start with the media they are consuming and add that to FOMO( fear of missing out ). Sexually suggestive: music, tv series, social media groups, ect. all easily accessed with a cellphone.
It takes two to tango
Not necessarily. Even pastors have stray children.
It is very bad, and it’s happening everywhere.
Denial plus lack of sex education and false morality. Gathee anakamua barely legal teens but refuses to acknowledge that his own sons and daughters are sexually active, ati wakipewa contraceptives na sex education its ‘encouraging immoral behaviour’. Let Boomers keep burying their heads in the sand, watoto wakirudi nyumbani with a baby or two thank God for the blessing, after all that’s what we say when kids are born right?
EXACTLY !!!
even all the other factor like exposure to new media etc etc still lead back directly to poor parenting.
The reasons for poor parenting is the results of now 3rd, 4th, 5th generation of a populace totally lacking cultural foundation.
E.g what are the teenage pregnancy rates among .ke Somali or Indian’s ?
Culture less parents raising children just anyhow with no cultural guidance.
Consequences of a peoples culture being deliberately wiped out, then being left culturally high and dry at independence, having lost the old culture and there being ‘race’ reasons for inability to assimilate into the ‘new’ cultures.
Hopefully, BBI should sort this out
Next…
There, ladies and gentlemen, lies the answer. Those who are saying that teenagers are horny are beating the wrong drums. Teenagers have been horny in all generations, they haven’t started becoming horny now. The issue is that these kids are consuming bad content in the media both main and social media. Parents are getting their kids smartphones and WiFi yet never bother to find out what these kids are watching or consuming. This, coupled with the fear of missing out is where the problem is. I will sum it with two words: POOR PARENTING.
They are poor parents. Being a pastor doesn’t make you a good parent.
Another great analysis. Let those that have teenage kids take note instead of living in denial.
terrible example boss, a good number of clergy kids are scum. Unlike their parents they haven’t quite learned the art of bull
poor parenting
Personal accountability in society today = 0. Surely, a 15-17 year old anajua raw sex = pregnancy. Our education system is not the best but hata kama bana, kaa at that age hukujua condoms ni nini maze basi ata sijui niseme nini. Kwa exam hawa watu wanaeza list 20 contraception methods lakini ikikuja prac wanasahau, then tunablame system.
Tunatomba halafu kesi baadae
- Teenagers, like adults, have sexual urges. And they fulfill them. Only now, with social media, the stories ziko kila mahali, so it seems like more teenagers are getting pregnant. That is not the case. The rates I believe are the same as 10 years ago (factor in population increase).
- Poor parenting really has a great role in it. But, so does the socio-cultural perceptions and attitudes. Kitambo, if you had a kid huko nje, the girl’s parents or relatives wangekutafuta. Especially for those who had very strict parents, and came from cultured communities. What happens siku hizi?
“Mum Niko na ball”
“Eeeeh? Ati???” Kukasirikiana for a while. But mtoi akizaliwa, the grandparent accepts him/her bila kujua baba ako wapi. - Either that, or kutoa foetus. We have normalised teenage abortions. It’s fine that people have a choice to have a baby or not. But when we dangle a get-out-of-jail-free card like abortion, what do you expect?
- Wanaume we have to take responsibility. Unawikawika “single mothers” hapa yet mtoto wako ako huko nje bila baba.
- Let’s stop blaming single parents. Divorce and being widowed were leading factors on single parenthood. (Siku hizi ni wanaume kuingia Karura. And we chest thump here vile we took slices tukaingia mitini). Polepole, the community stopped caring to see these kids were raised vizuri. Widows are now left to their own devices. Because they are young, they don’t have proper guidance on how to behave and act, which would prevent them from exposing their children to harmful behaviours and attitudes. Even those who try, they lack something only a Male figure would provide to these children. Studies show that the presence of a cultured and principled man (whether father or not) acts as a barrier or deterrent to misbehaviour by kids. (Therefore, point six)
- As a man, if your sister, daughter or cousin is a single parent, wouldn’t you be proud if your nephew or grandchild turned out to be a great man? Smart and mindful? Step up maze. Help the girl set and ensure proper values for her son. Be a father figure for that child. All they need is a strong male hand willing to show the way. Then we reset the misdirection we are on.
- Catholic, Anglican, SDA and Islam…in short, religious countries in this country are failing us. They sponsor majority of schools (primary, high school, pre-school), not forgetting, being major mobilisers of people. Yet, religious institutions wamekataa Comprehensive Sex Education ifanywe shule. Completely opposed it. Sponsor akikataa ufanye kitu shule yake huwezi fanya kitu. It seems even government imeshindwa. Yet kuna sensible child development officers pale Ministry of Education championing for this. There is a big difference between knowing this is a jembe, and knowing how and when to use it. Few people know when and how to use a weeding jembe, vs a ploughing jembe. The same way, hawa watoi, despite being able to name different contraceptive methods, they don’t know which to use, when and how. We cannot blame them on that. The buck stops with government, and religious institutions.
We may blame parents. But how do you expect someone who has never had sex education to teach someone the same? Tuache ufala. Schools are the second most influential socialising agent kwa binadamu. If we used it well, we can address some of the problems associated with substances, mental health and reproduction.
Do you know that girls as young as 14 are starting to develop breast lumps (lumps are a sign of cancer) due to improper use of contraceptives hapa Kenya? I’m not talking about CDs (some people don’t like them)