Teenage pregnancy (Courtesy)
By: Veromelody Night
Worth Noting:
- Peer pressure- this mainly the reason why most people go astray not only the teens but adults as well. This is where the peers tell you about something that they have done and convinces you to do the same in order to be part of their team or to avoid being seen as an old-fashion person
- poverty- some teens risk their lives by sleeping with older people in order to get money and buy some fancy things for themselves or even buy some basic things for their families
- Experimentation- some teens try to experiment what they hear from their fellow peers so that they may also have a story to tell their friends when they are together.
Teenage refers to the age between 13 and 19 .This is a very crucial stage for these young ones because they tend to realise more about themselves and are always eager to explore more in life without knowing the consequences that come along with the decisions they make. At this stage they are mostly referred to as adolescents hence the name adolescent pregnancy. In most cases these pregnancies are normally unplanned for making some to drop out of school, others prefer getting married due to poor background which cannot support them and their kids, and some even go for abortion because of the fear of being abandoned by their parents making some of them to loose their wombs at a very tender age.
Teenage pregnancy in Kenya stand at 18%.This includes the teenagers who are already parents together with those who are still pregnant with their first children. The rate increases rapidly with age from 3% among girls aged 15,to 40% among girls aged 19.
There are some factors contributing to this early pregnancies among the teens, these include;
- Peer pressure- this mainly the reason why most people go astray not only the teens but adults as well. This is where the peers tell you about something that they have done and convinces you to do the same in order to be part of their team or to avoid being seen as an old-fashion person
- poverty- some teens risk their lives by sleeping with older people in order to get money and buy some fancy things for themselves or even buy some basic things for their families
- Experimentation- some teens try to experiment what they hear from their fellow peers so that they may also have a story to tell their friends when they are together.
- Poor relationship between the parents and the daughters-this happens especially if the parents have a white collar job and comes home late and goes to work earlier hence do not have time for their children. This happens mostly when girls think that they are mature enough to make their own decisions and the parents are also correcting them in a harsh way, this makes them feel unwanted and hence hatred develops between them.
- Rape -this is where the girl child is abused sexually without their consent and gets pregnant without them knowing.
- Desire for children-this is where the teens admire kids and wish that they could give birth to such beautiful kids as the ones that they see either in real life or on the social media platforms
- There are some effects which come along with the early pregnancies among the teens .These include;
- School dropout-due to the pregnancy most teens become shy and stop going to school fearing that they might be isolated by their peers
- Anaemia-the teen might loose a lot of blood during the child birth if not well looked after hence she might get anaemia
- High risk of low birth weight to the child-the child might be underweight due to poor feeding and mental stress from the mother.
In order to avoid high cases of teenage the teens should be made aware of some things that will help them in their daily lives. These measures should include;
- Abstinence-avoiding sex activities is the best way to prevent early pregnancy
- Use of contraceptive- the teens should be made aware that use of emergency pills or contraceptive devices like condoms during sexual intercourse helps in preventing teenage pregnancies
- Communication-positive interaction between the parents and the child regarding sex education may reduce the chances of one getting pregnant at an early age.
The government should help reduce the teenage pregnancy in the society by; providing sex education in higher secondary schools along with their consequences and even organizing community-based programs on teenage pregnancies and the adverse effects of early pregnancies. Those who rape the teens should also be given punishment to serve as a lesson to others who intend to do so.
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