Over the past couple of years an unsettling amount of popular TV shows revolve around the subject of Teen Pregnancy. These include:
- Teen Mom
- The Secret Life of an American Teenager
- 15 and Pregnant
- 16 and Pregnant
- Large Times at Gloucester High
These shows are having major effect on teenage girls which should be obvious. Check it out for yourself. Here is an episode of MTV’s Teen Mom. You may also want to take a look at the Teen Mom Blog. The show is a big deal!
Teenagers will want to act like what they see on TV. Unless you have been living under a rock this is not new news. “It catches up with common sense. Media helps shape the social script for teenagers. Most parents know that.” (Bill Albert, Chief program officer at the non-profit Nation Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy interviewed by journalist Lindsey Tanner)
Teen pregnancy is now a topic to stress to your daughters when you first have “the talk.” I know you were probably planning on telling her about the risks of having sex but the risk of having a baby is no longer quite as scary to your daughters as it used to be. It has become almost accepted among most teenagers today.
For instance, The Secret Life of an American Teenager appears on ABC Family. This is supposed to be a family channel! It is making the situation more normal for its audience of 3.6 million views. (Statistic cited by Chuck Barney, Houston Chronicle, TV Feature – Series strikes chord with young viewers – Secert Life takes candid look at teen pregnancy)
Teen Mom‘s rating have also flown off the charts with more than 3 million viewers according to a recent issue of US Weekly magazine. It was also the featured front page story. Oh and another front page feature on Teen Mom came out two weeks later. That’s twice in one month for US Weekly Magazine. I hope I am enlightening you of the severity of this problem. Talk to her!
Stop Teen Pregnancy 