shattering dreams silently
Teenage pregnancy.
There is a high rate of teenage pregnancy in Nigeria today.This issue needs proper and urgent attention from the government,before it becomes difficult to manage.
Helen is a well known in the molete area of molusi street..in Ibadan..where she resides.A 16 year old who looks likes a 24 year old.Helen is known to be beautiful outspoken and forward.she completed her sss 3 and had good results.The young lady resides with her parents,Helen suddenly disappeared from the community and the general thinking was that she had gained admission into a higher institution.
when after about 11 months she suddenly reappeared with a baby strapped on her back.Helen confessed to whoever cared to listen that she has
been out of circulation because she was pregnant.How could such a thing happen to this promising young lady aspiring to become a lawyer,one wandered.
Helen volunteered the facts.I was introduced to kunle an accountant based in port-Harcourt by a friend.He said he was interested in me.He use to buy me items like jewellery,small purse,perfumes,associated biscuits,tops,make up kits and offered me money on many occasions,when he came to Ibadan he said he wanted to marry me,so I visited him once in a while.On this particular day when he came around he called my mobile phone and asked me to meet him at home.It was on that day he deflowered me.I had never had sex before that day..He did not give me any medicine to use,and I did not know that am suppose to use pregnancy prevention medicine.The pregnancy was six months old before I knew I was pregnant,because I was still menstruating monthly.
I hope to go back to school for my degree as soon as the baby is old enough to be left with my mother.Thank God kunle did not deny me. He said he will still marry me,His parents came to see my parents.He supports our! baby with some monthly allowance
That is Helen's pathetic true life story for you.Morenike is not as lucky as Helen,although she is older.she was 18 when it happened but she is now 23 years old.
According to her I meet Tunde on one of my trips to Lagos.He told me he was an air force officer attached to a base in Abuja. He shuttles between Lagos and Abuja.I visited him in Lagos ones and I stayed the night.I didn't know he had added a sedative to my drink.It was when I woke up in the morning that I knew he had had carnal knowledge of me.i couldn't tell my mother that I slept in his house or he raped me.
I later discovered that I was pregnant.My mummy, being a devout Christian did not let me abort the pregnancy,it was an harrowing experience as I could not go to church.I had to change my church and I hide myself when ever I saw my friends for the duration of the pregnancy.It was after the delivery that I discovered that Tunda was already married with children.I had to break off with him because my mother will not let me be a second wife.He in turn stopped sending financial support to me and my baby. I had to fend for myself and baby.
There are many incident like this teenagers that can hardly take care of themselves getting pregnant.
unfortunately this trend is on the increase.which does not order well for the families and for the nation.
Some parents keep their female children most times in doors to protect them from the opposite sex,but at the same time not teaching them about s-x education or openly discussing the issue of s-x with them.
Some girls get pregnant immediately they live home for higher education,they have not been exposed to the tricks and antics of men to get into these girls honey pot.
Another reason why some girls fall so easily to the antics of men is because of peer pressure.They may have friends who go out with men,they are versatile in preventing pregnancy by using pills,condoms or unconventional methods.Even when pregnancy do occur they know where to go get D&C.
A young girl who has been indoors for so long till her early teenage life will easily get carried away by the sweet talking hungry lions.
Lots of incidents of teenage pregnancy abound,which ordinarily could have been averted through s-x education.
Lack of s-x education has been the major cause of teenage pregnancy.
Parents should be free in teaching their children about s-x.
Parents should stop this cock and bull stories about s-x...telling their young daughters "Don't let a man touch your breast ...or you will get pregnant...
There is danger in what she has just said,because a man may not need to touch her breast to have s-x with her. while protecting her breast some things else has happened.
The world has become far more advanced than for mothers to be lying to their children about their private organs,calling them insects,monkey,butterfly.Let your children know the real names of their private organs,and the purpose they are meant to serve, and why they should not indulge in s-xual activities especially the female children who may fall prey to wealthy men who flaunt their wealth to entice young ladies.It is pertinent for parents especially mothers to teach their girls how to interact with the opposite sex but at the Same time not allow men touch them any how.
Teenage pregnancy occurs as a result of lack of exposure.Our attitude towards educating the teenage on s-x is primitive.We don't talk about sex and intercourse in this part of the world,so whatever the teenagers know about sex is through their peers and experimentation which land them in trouble as it leads to unwanted pregnancy.
most times parents are not around to monitor their children so they are exposed in what ever environment they
find themselves.
Apart from lack of parental guidance,poverty,rape,western influence,peer pressure,culture,abuse by relations and lack of self will are also responsible for teenage pregnancy.
Parents should be able to monitor the type of films their children and wards watch.The kind of friends and associates they keep. Friends on social media should be strictly monitored. Half of teenage mothers may not likely go back to school.
Teenage mothers are at a greater risk of encountering medical complications because an average teenage mother is more likely to receive little or no prenatal care,this result into the mother becoming anaemia and as such prone to developing preeclampsia a severe condition associated with high blood pressure,
The pelvic bones of a mother do not reach their maximum size until around the age of 18.As such the pelvis bones of a teenage mother may not have grown enough to allow for vaginal delivery of a normal size baby.All cumulative challenges make it very common for babies born to teenage mothers to die in the first year of birth.Since the teenage mother is less likely to eat correctly during pregnancy,her baby often has a low birth weight(less than51/2 pounds)making it more likely the baby will become I'll.
Teenage pregnancy makes a girl loses focus and purpose in life.It could be traumatic because the society looks badly at such children.who become withdrawn and downcast. She becomes a waste to her parents who could have been looking forward to becoming a successful achiever.
In conclusion,the nation losses what the girls would have contributed one way or the other. while she gets withdrawn from school.It is a great loss to the girls as she unpreparedly gives birth.And for a child born in such a circumstance,it is so unfortunate because some of them get abandoned and become stigmatized. Although they could be adopted,but one way or the other,their self esteem and psyche are affected in such a manner that they cannot reach their full potential.
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