HELICOPTER PARENTS - Stop Hovering ME!!!!

The article, "The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting", gave a simple message stating "Less is more; hovering is dangerous; failure is fruitful. You really want your children to succeed? Learn when to leave them alone. When you lighten up, they'll fly higher. We're often the ones who hold them down." I could not agree with this statement more. In response to the comments, I am not directly blaming the parents for the behaviors that their child acts upon nor am I saying that teens rebel because they know that their parents do not want to see them hurt. I am making a claim that parental "hovering" behavior is a factor in what allures children to want to rebel and participate in things that they know they should not. Of course, it is only natural for parents to want the best for their children, I did not mention otherwise. If the child chooses to communicate to his or her parents, would the parents listen? Based on their helicopter mentality, they already know what is best for the child and will most likely continue their habits, disregarding the expression of their child. Perhaps hovering is not that bad! Helicopter Parents Reconsidered," provides from a review of research studies by the Harvard Family Research Project, that teens whose parents play an active role do better in school and are more likely to enroll in college. That research also states that hovered children earned lower grades. What could this be the effect of? From parental pressure? Some younger children will even use their parents' parental "protection" as an advantage, especially when education comes into play. Instead of speaking to a teacher about tutorial sessions or wondering why they make a certain grade, they do not confront the teachers on a student-to-teacher level. They just say "Here, talk to my mom." They are not sure whether what they are doing is correct or not, so they got to their mother to confirm. Does not this hinder him or her from speaking up for their self? Will they always depend on a higher authority to make a decision for them? This sure does not sound like good parenting!

Babies Having Babies

Nationally, nearly one million young women under age 20 become pregnant each year. That means close to 2800 teens get pregnant each day.( Facts in Brief: Teen Sex and Pregnancy, The Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York, 1996). The standard statistics for how many babies born every minute in the U.S. is roughly at eight babies a minute. Out of every eight babies born in that minute six belong to women of the age 20 and under.

In my last article i talked about the rising increase of teen pregnancy in America and everyone who commented seem to have the same intake on the situation. Ericka Jackson stated that "I think that is so true. Either they are pregnant or trying to get pregnant."(about hollywood role models) She even listed a website that gives a list of teens role models of today who think babies are accessories. Its crazy how teen girls in hollywood, who are suppose to be role models for little girls actually get pregnant. (hint hint Jamie Lynn Spears) This just shows little girls that having kids at a young age is cool, which it isn't. Why can't we have hollywood teen role models tell little girls that its okay to go to school and get a education, or hey join some after school activities such as sports,clubs,etc. so that you can stay active, even how about read a book. The way things or going, i wouldn't be surprise if girls from ages 13-15 in the next few years have the highest pregnancy rates.

Jamie Lynn Spears Pregnant Again

http://www.popcrunch.com/jamie-lynn-spears-pregnant-again/

Pregnant In Hollywood

The website http://www.pregnanthollywood.com/

Maury:Teens Out Of Control

HELICOPTER PARENTS - Stop Hovering ME!!!!

Have you ever been rebellious just because someone told you that you could not or should not do it? Ever wanted to press the “DO NOT PRESS” button? Of course most of you have or have considered it, but most children who have helicopter parents would of all be the most curious or anxious. Babies are so impotent and harmless that it is natural for parents to be cautious and careful. However, as they grow up and mature some mothers and fathers just do not want to cut the umbilical chord. These helicopter parents want to protect their children from the “real world” with all the criminals and bad people, and want to be like guardian angels of their children. One article, Overprotective Parents, agrees that children are supposed to grow up and run, jump, fall, cry, and have some scars on the elbows and legs without the interference of over-bearing parents. Do you believe that this parental behavior is hurting relationship and the children? When children become older (especially in their teens), they do not view the hovering as love or nurturing; they see it as their parents not trusting them or considering them to have sufficient judgement to act on their own. These types of children who have parents to hover most likely result in defiance. So how do these parents know when to stop and can they?

Beware of Video Game Violence

Mature Video Game Rating-wikimedia commons

Being a gamer, I keep up with all the latest games and gaming trends. Playing games has been a hobby of my friends and I ever since we could understand what hobbies were. That being said, it is no surprise to me that video games has become a dominate industry. Video games have gone from being rather simple to highly sophisticated and realistic. Scott Steinberg puts this in perspective in his article "Why new music video games rock". Steinberg talks about all of the new features for the games that allow the player to feel like he or she is actually playing an instrument or singing on a stage. For all those out there who remember the games from generations past, these new add ons make the older games look prehistoric. Not only has technology for video games become more advanced, but competition has become fiercer as well. Of all video games on the market, the most popular games are those that make violence the center point. Ben Parfitt's "Modern Warfare 2 Still rules Xbox Live" gives a good example of the type of competition that takes place in the gaming market. The example given is the rivalry between Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Halo Reach. These two games rival each other for the top position on the video game charts. In both game plays the player has to kill the enemy to win. With the massive success of games like these, it can be hard to see what these types of games are doing to society.

Are young people who play violent video games more hostile than those who play video games with a different theme?  Kristin Kalning addresses this question head on in her article "Does game violence make teens aggressive?" this article provides information from a study conducted by the researchers of the Indiana University School of Medicine. This study consisted of two groups of twenty-two adolescents; one group played a violent video game, while the other played a racing game. The results of this study were that the brains of the children who played the violent game suffered negative effects in the emotional area of the brain, whereas, those who played the racing game the negative results were not present. With video games becoming more realistic and the violence seemingly becoming more real the negative effects mentioned are only going to get worse unless this dispersal of violence is stopped.

In her article, "Do You Know What Video Games Your Children Are Playing?" Pamela Eakes, who is a supporter for Mothers Against Violence in America, says that 90 percent of parents do not monitor the ratings on their children's games. If the parents don't monitor what is going on, how can anyone expect the kids to know if what they are playing is bad for them? Violence in games are destroying the mentality of  young people, so are we really going to let these childrem keep playing something we know that will hurt them?

Babies Having Babies

For many high school students, seeing pregnant peers is roughly apart of the high school experience. So when the Lifetime channel decided to put teen pregnancy in the forefront with their feature film, The Pregnancy Pact. Many students weren’t exactly shocked to see that things of this nature were happening in other parts of the U.S. because of their prior knowledge to teen pregnancy. After seeing this movie, I thought to myself this school is just like my school, everybody’s pregnant. It kind of makes you wonder if babies are new accessories for people. Even in Hollywood, it seems as if everybody’s pregnant. If Americans keep this up we’ll have population problems like China. Recently I discovered a Time Magazine article posted on their website about a recent rise in teen pregnancy in the U.S., which also caused abortion rates to rise. According to the article rates were on a downfall in the 1990’s, but by 2006 was at an all time high. Which isn’t a big shock to me. I mean like the old saying says, out with the old and in with the new. This saying just happens to apply to a not so good habit.

Time Magazine Article: New Data: Teen Pregnancy on the Rise, Abortions Too

Read more:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1956645,00.html

Guttmacher report: Following Decade-Long Decline, U.S. Teen Pregnancy Rate Increases As Both Births And Abortions Rise

Read more:

http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2010/01/26/index.html

“Young Love: Stop Hitting Me”

"What have I done to you? I thought you loved me? Why do you keep hurting me." These are the constant cries of teens in abusive relationships. According to kidshealth.org, 1 in 11 high school students report being physically hurt on a date.

When the popular jock, or cheerleader approaches you in school you never think he will put his hands on me. She will never slap me if another girl says hello to me. You are caught up in the looks of how you two will be precieve when everyone finds out you go with the most popular male, or female in school. Many of times as adolesecents we act nonchalant towards the red flags that we are in an abusive relationship. We go through the abuse mentally, physically, and emotionally. 1 in 4 teens girls who have been in a relationship revealed they had been pressued to perform oral sex or engaged in intercoure. More than 1 in 4 teens girls in a relationship(26%) report endurng repeated verbal abuse.

Why do we never speak up? Why do we never turn to someone for help? Nearly 80% of teens who are in a domestic violent relationship stay in the relationship with their abuser. That same popular guy at school has now given you a black eye, and fractured a vital bone. The most popular ,and beautiful cheerleader has slapped him for the first time. He was always taught not to hit a women, so he starts to distant himself more and more from her. Your friends take notcie to the changes in you. Suddenly you began to show signs of "power and control".

This epidemic of domestic violence in relationships amongst teens stream from their partners having to be in control, jealousy, possessiveness, and manipulation. Charcteristics held by a person in a relationship such as these are warnings to seperated yourself early from having to advance further into a relationship that will tear down your self-esteem and dignity. Everyone does not hold the power to walk away or fight back.

So............When will it be enough to walk away?

Should contraceptives be distributed in highschools?

Nowadays unintentional pregnancies among the teenage generation has increased an skyrocketed and 20% of female freshmen have dropped out due to pregnancy. http://liberalforum.org/liberalforum/index.php?/topic/23895-why-we-should-dispense-birth-control-in-schools/

Distributing contracteptives in highschools can bring this to a stop. Teenagers are going to do what they want to do regardless so why not cut the pregnancy rate while they are still in school? More will graduate teenagers instead of parents and they will be Std free.
Most teenagers think premarital sex is okay as long as its done within a loving relationship. With that said teenagers start believing they are in love as young as fourteen.
Students are brainwashed by their peers into thinking that sex is love and vice versa, when all in all sex could very well cause an unwanted increase of the human race. Many schools have decided that contraceptives should indeed be passed out in highschools. Not only that but there are parent groups pushing for the distribution of contraceptives to reduce the amount of teenage pregnancies each year.http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2009/07/schools_should.html
Though there are plenty supporting the idea there are just as many refusing the idea. Every minute of refusal from parents is another son or daughter closer to having sex and having and unwanted pregnancy. There are 6 million unwanted pregnancies every year in the United States which accounts for eighty-seven percent.Many efforts have been made to educate youth about sexual activity and birth control, but what else can you tell a raging hormone infested hard headed teenager?

Children should definitely not be having children.