Jax, I agree with you. The question we should be asking is when is someone ready to be a parent, not at what age?

There are plenty of "bad parents" who were much older when they had children.

There are plenty of "bad parents" who were teens when they had children.

What qualities do we have to have in order to be a good parent? Is it tied to maturity level, income level or is it something else. I am going to vote for the something else because among "good parents" who raise "good children" across age and income level, there are commonalities and I believe it is those commonalities that determine when someone should become a parent.

That isn't the case of most of these teens. Many of them are broken up with their ex's before the child is even born. Do you think these unmarried, single teen mothers are giving their children the same quality of life you and your ex are giving yours? And what about their own happiness? Many of them face a life of hardship and long periods of loneliness. Just look at the number of threads about men who do not want to date single mothers.

Not true, there are times that a parent is out of the home before the childern are awake, even when both parents are married and live together. My father left our home for his job around 5am. Was he any less of a dad. No. I can take my situation with my son, and his mother and I have equal time.

Again 18-19 year olds are adults, with all legal rights and obligations, less the purchase of alcohol in the States. Please don't talk to me about early childhood development like I don't have a tottler. I find it condecending. Again no one is born a super parent it is something that we all grow into and figure out along the way. We are not talking about 13-17 year old minors. Why should anyone WANT or HAVE to parent. You will have to ask themWHY they wish to be a parent at a young age. Again they are ADULTS. They made a choice. The HAVE is because they are a parent, and a child cannot care for itself. Going to College, that can be done at Night, or Online welcome to the 21st Century. Campus life is not closed to them either, it just has a different set of challenges. You make it sound like that life ends when someone becomes a parent, IMHO it fullfills a life.

Not everyone that becomes a single parent did so out of wedlock, or outside a very commited realtionship.

Of course I can, because my situation is just as valid as other situations. Again you're assuming that Dad is nowhere to be found. Not everyone that becomes a single parent did so out of wedlock, or outside a very commited realtionship.

Not sure who or what has pee'd in your corn flakes. It doesn't matter what is being said if everything you say is argumentative and tries to push your belief on others. I will no longer be a podium or pulpit for you to try and spew you angst against others. If people ask a question or look for help, there will be those of us who will respond in kind. Then there will be people of your caliber that must say something that has no bearing to push your beliefs. This is not a church nor is it a liveral or conservative forum. No need to be left or right here. If you want to choose to berate people, that's your choice.

People made mistakes. People didn't make mistakes, they made bad choices. Nobody has a right to belittle someone for their life and to continue to see posts as such is ridiculous.

You talk about thread progression... The thread topic is 18-20 year olds. Not teens, not younger than teens. The thread is about adults. It's your choice to derive what you want from it and cause angst. Obviously you have been jaded in some emotional way to have the replies you have. Your choices are yours alone and hopefully you ease off the hostility towards everyone but yourself.

You took what I said in reverse. I didn't say living with your child makes you automatically more involved. Why do you have to take my opinions so personally? It gives me the sense that you have some insecurities regarding your current situation

A teenage girl or a young adult lady does need to put her life on hold for a few years during early childhood. Being a parent can be very fulfilling, but you'll find that most young women, if they are really honest, are not truly happy with their decision. It shows in their parenting, their need to find fulfillment elsewhere early on (finding a new partner, going out, going to college before it's convenient). If you are taking night classes on top of working a full time job, when are you raising your baby or toddler? How are you getting fulfillment out of being a parent if you aren't even there 90% of the time?

Are you just taking a stance on early adulthood pregnancy because it's convenient for arguing with me? I can't imagine you actually think an 18 year old that has no time to practice financial responsibility and credit management is equal to someone who has waited 5-10 years to do so.

I'm actually fairly surprised that you don't see that it's important that at least one of a child's parents should be his or her primary care giver. When you've gotten yourself into a situation that makes you need to put your child into the care of someone else, how can you not recognize that your free time needs to be devoted to the child's development during these tender early years?

Nobody is condemning anyone for their mistakes. Insecurities in one's own actions and life cause them to react as though having convictions that are purely intended to do good in society is a personal attack on their lifestyle choices.

I am not religious. I am not liberal. I am not conservative. I am a person, who has opinions and beliefs, and shares them with my whole being.

I find it interesting that you think I have no right to discuss my well-warranted opinions with society just because I disagree with what someone is saying and have zero troubles with being blunt about it. So what gives you the right to condemn me and make me a villain for doing so. Hypocrite much?

I am not jaded. I do not spread fears and anxieties. I choose not to run around in rosy glasses thinking that as long as an 18 year old girl thinks she is mature enough to raise a child everything will be ok. 8 out 10 teenage fathers leave. That statistic includes 18 and 19 year olds. I deal in reality, not how I wish things would be.

For the third time, I didn't bring up teen pregnancy. I was responding to the countless replies promoting it.

Some women are mature enough to be mothers at 16. It depends on the person.

They are not girls at age 18, they are women. These women may or may not be married and may or may not have graduated from high school. I would say most have completed most of their high school education by 18 and age 19 and 20 hopefully are married, entering a career, or college. The statistics do not indicate specifics for just the 18, 19, and 20 year olds on welfare, but does indicate there are surprising number of teens on welfare that have had babies. Sad.

If you are going to be diving into your career, will you really be ready to put it on hold for a few years? Will those knee-deep in college be ready to put it on hold for a few years until their baby can enter preschool or kindergarten?

I, like many others, was a junior in high school when I turned 18. More teens graduate high school at 19 than 18. I cannot find the chart that shows the entire US that I used for a thesis in college, but here's one for Florida that is quite similar to the trending of the national graph.

I already showed earlier that the rate of divorce for below 25 is 40%-49%. If these young adults and teens are not even capable of choosing the right partner (to be expect considering how much we change, grow and mature in our 20's due to life and careers), how is that an argument that says they are ready to have children?

You are not sharing them... you are telling people they are wrong and continue to raise argumentative positions and stances. You are not saying it is your opinion but telling people what they are doing is wrong. There is a big difference.

Didn't say you didn't have a right to discuss such. Said this topic was about adults, not kids, not teens, nothing of what you have mentioned. Your replies are way off topic. Yet you continue to persist in hatred for what young women do. Start up a thread called "Why I had young single mothers"... That would be a topic that you could keep in perception and continue with rants. I am a man and am offended on how you categorically place young mothers. Feel free to post any links to all of this data you have accumulated for people to look at insted of this "8 out of 10". No, I am not a hypocrite. I told you why I posted what I did. Do you feel better after you tell people how bad they are? You continue to post the same thing post after post. Maybe a little bit more and we can see what really it is inside of you that needs to come out.

8 out of 10 teenage fathers leave. Where is that data? What are the circumstances behind that data. The reality is you have a bad past with decisions obviously that have affected you. Other people's life has no bearing on you so why must you persist in attacking young women? Did you have a bad teenage boyfriend? Did you have a child for the wrong reasons? This has nothing to do with the orinigal topic of young adults having children. You have had something happen in your past which you must put on paper to feel better in some way. Out of all the posts, no one has slammed young women for having children with the exception of yours. I may be wrong, but to re-read 3 pages of your posts and a few others I will gladly do. Guess what, people made bad choices. Maybe they were good at the time, maybe their are extenuating circumstances, just maybe.... People have a right to live their life without being judged. If you want to berate and belittle these young women, pay for their college, give them food with room and board, take care of their children. Then you may have a right to say they are so sadly wrong for the choices they have made.

This is a free standing forum. Too many people on here are slamming others. It's ridiculous. Back off as it serves no purpose. There is no debate in this thread when you persist with "I am right... I am right... I am right". You haven't posted your opinion but you continue to push your belief. Move past the err of what a person has made and what can you do to help past that point. As the original poster of the thread said, he agrees in the parenting of the younger people that make them who and what they are. The topic stopped there and went 3 different ways from the original content.

That would be about the national average. So, they are no better or worse in picking a partner then the rest of society. Growing and maturing due to career, and life can be said about any grown-up. I am not the same person I was just a few years ago.

This must be a new trend because when I graduated from high school 13 years ago, I was one of the older students at 18. The trend then was more 17/18. This could be due to the cut-off month for childern to enter kidnergarten. Like here you have to be 5 by August to enter public school. My son has his birthday in late September, just another reason I will put him in private school. I will have to look at average ages of NC and MD.

It takes an average of 4 years to earn a bachelor's degree. So if you have a child at 18, and go to school full-time, you will be 22/23 when you graduate. Depending on when you had your child that child will be about 4/5 years old. About the same time to go to kidnergarten.

You are misinformed. The rate drops to 24% in those that are married at 25.

in 2008, 46% of all marriages involve a remarriage for one or both spouces. It is estimated that 40% of all marriages have ended in divorce as of 2008.[3]
Sratling, Cassandra (9 June 2009). "Blended families can overcome daunting odds". Burlington, Vermont: Burlington Free Press. pp. 9A. wikipedia

I don't believe that going to college should be put ahead of raising your child. I've said that many times.

I don't believe that going to college should be put ahead of raising your child.