Holy Shit!
Today at Starbucks, there was a group of 14 year olds (guesstimate). One 14 year old had evidently pissed off the other, right as I was walking up.
The one who was pissed of says: When I have my baby, I am not letting you hold it.
Oh my, this means so many things. Just so many. That she thinks the biggest deal and power to wield with a child, is to not let others hold it, show ignorance that is scary. That she is planning on using a child to wield any kind of power, is really scary, and just makes me feel like it is a situation set up for abuse.
Then I think nursing. I think about the 14 year old I saw deliver a baby and how ill prepared she was for birth, much less the rest of the child's life. Or the little child, with a chronic illness, in the hospital, whose mother was barely 18. This does not set children up for success. Either child.
When I was 14, I was dreaming of being simply touched, anywhere, by my first love B. Not how I wanted to have a baby with him and lots of sex. That came later (the sex, not the baby), but at a time when I could grasp the importance of birth control.
Please please, talk to your children. I know I am not a parent and I do not understand how hard those conversations are, much less raising a child in general is, but I do understand the consequences of not doing so are much harder than that one conversation.
