YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Going back to school with teen pregnancy

    If your daughter is returning to school while pregnant, you need to step up your game. She might have some supportive friends, but she is also going to have to deal with more rumors and gossip than usual. As upset as you may be by the pregnancy, what is done is done. It's time for you to let your daughter know that she is still your daughter and you still have her back.

    You can stop lecturing now. Of course you aren't happy that your daughter got pregnant while still in high school, but your lectures serve no purpose. If anything, they just make her experience more bad feelings. She's still pregnant.

    She is still a kid in school. Rather than looking at it as your pregnant daughter is going to school, why not continue to look at it like your daughter is still going to school? Some teens drop out of school when they get pregnant, so you should feel fortunate that yours didn't. Her time in school and the fact that she is pregnant are two different issues.

    Are you worried for her or yourself? Sometimes parents are upset because they are embarrassed that their daughter got pregnant in high school. You have nothing to be embarrassed about unless you are making this about you when you should be making it about her. The funniest part of that is the fact that it wasn't so long ago when women were considered spinsters if they weren't married with kids while still in their teens. That means you would have been proud of her back then and bragging about the fact that she was pregnant. Don't let your social concepts ruin your relationship with your daughter.

    Don't forget that she is scared. I did not have my son until I was 27 years old, and I was scared. Every new mother has fears, or she should have. That is what keeps us on our toes. Your daughter is probably already scared because of the pregnancy, but she still has serious life choices to make. Focus on her fears rather than judging her. She is probably going to have enough people judging her already.

    Decide what kind of a support system you are going to be. You have to choose how involved you want to be. If you are only there to judge and condemn her, you probably won't be there at all. Your daughter made a mistake that is going to change her life and now you have to decide how you can still help her reach her goals. When she fell off her bike you didn't just leave her laying there. Don't do it now either.

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    Source: Personal Experience