Teenage Pregnancy: In the eyes of Teens

We all know that the topic about teenage pregnancy is very prevalent in our generation. It is a situation where a few of us are fighting alone. Primarily, they are startled and are forced to choose whether they continue or not, for they’re already caught up in the situation. We’ve seen a few articles and editorials meant for this topic but all of them are limited on how an adult, especially a professional, sees the situation. Almost every paper about this topic proves or shows that the teenager’s decision is the worst and says that they rushed things, in short words it is focused on the consequences and the cons of what they are going through.

According to the Philippine Statistical Authority from 2017, there are 538 babies that are born to Filipino teenage mothers daily. And with this racking number of births in the country, we are sitting in the 2nd highest rate of teenage pregnancy in South East Asia based on Save the Children’s Global Childhood Report of 2019. This number tells us one thing, and it is the current reality of the general. Have we tried to see this topic in another way? Well, yes the consequences are already there and all of these are due to bad decision making that they committed. But is it really the teen’s decision that leads to our current reality? Or because of the toxic tradition of being conservative? Many times we’ve heard this phrase inside our Classroom or School, “The very foundation of education starts in the household.” And this phrase also applies in the topic of Teenage Pregnancy. So everything leads to the very foundation of an individual’s education and values, the households.

These days and with the very tradition and customs that we have for thousands of years, did the older generation openly discuss this topic with us young ones? Did they properly assist us to open our innocent eyes to see the troublesome reality of our society? Or did they handle it with might and a belt held tight on their hands? For the teenagers of this generation also known as “Gen Z '', the topic about teenage pregnancy are dealt with a number of differences inside their households, for each parent had their own style of “educating” the young ones. The solution for the nature of the topic being “Sensitive” or “awkward” is being properly educated and informed about it at an early age. Education needs time and patience on the part of the parents for forcing a thought into someone will affect the opposite. Patience, research, and Knowledge about the situation will cover or compensate for the dangers or risk of the topic. Everybody taught that everything are all pointed out to the child due to their poor decision making skill, but it is also the reflection of the type of parenting that they are experiencing inside their household, parents who are audacious enough to blame their kid for what happened to them are not the best type of persons to be a parent. Now, can we finally see that everybody has their own fair share of misfortunes or shortcomings in nurturing a young individual?

For an individual or a teenager who’s going through the same thing, it is admirable to see how courageous they are to continue and see the end of their situation. Even though committing a grave mistake, instead of wallowing in despair, they managed to get up, learn, and face a more challenging path ahead of them. Many can see that even though they’ve built resolve on continuing; their situation is still dire. But let us also commend them for not choosing the easy way out; “abortion” . A person’s capability to learn is unlimited, and we can literally see it in the situation of a teen parent. Everybody knows that the common beginning of learning is committing mistakes, similarly to what happened to a teen parent. They made a mistake, lived with it, and learned. Being able to accept it and learn from it is the best course of decision that every person will commit. So, for us audiences or peers of those individuals who are in a similar situation, let us not belittle them for what happened to them. Some may laugh, despise, or even degrade them to the point that they will doubt themselves, but let us all remember to be a person. Let us always see the good things in a situation, it may sound optimistic but what good will it make if we ridicule or degrade them. At the end of the day, we are not the ones who are facing a silent battle, so why bother to burden them?

Acculturation, a clashing of cultures of two different generations, most probably the old and young one. When both cultures came into a conflict, its acculturation. And this is also a variable on why there's discomfort in this topic. For the older generation, let us be more understanding and patient for the younger generation and always keep in mind that everything will not be solved with force, more importantly when dealing with teenagers, we can understand and comprehend the risks of a situation. So let us not be super authoritative to the point that we will feel that we can’t voice out our own thoughts. And for us younger generation, let us learn to accept what the older generation has to say for us. For age surely comes with wisdom, it is a package. If there’s a difference in opinion, discuss it peacefully without the thought of age or hierarchy in society. Education comes or applies in the form of communication, so if we failed in the communication part, there’s no reason for us to continue and educate. It will surely lead into a failure or into a bigger conflict between the said generations. As a fellow teenager, these statements may seem neutral, but as I mentioned earlier, what good will it do if I tagged along the blame game?

In conclusion, good communication is the best solution for this Awkwardness of the topic. It may sound out of an old Filipino drama scene but there’s no problem that will be resolved without proper communication between both parties.