Today is my first day blogging about choices. No matter how young or old you are, everybody has decisions that they make. There are all different types of choices to make and they can be big or small. You can make them on your own or you have the decision to consult friends, family members, or other important people in your life. What do you do when there is a fork in the road?
I decided to write this blog because I've had a lot of experience working with young people and being young-ish myself, I can appreciate the mixed emotions that are involved in working through a challenge and coming up with solutions. My expertise is in sexuality health education, options counseling, child development, and working with young mothers.
I also made the choice to start this blog because my husband and I recently moved to the DC Metro area from South Jersey and since I have some spare time as I continue my job search, I thought this would be a nice way to share my knowledge, thoughts, and opinions on decisions that teens and young adults make regarding sexuality and parenthood.
As I was browsing through my facebook news feed last night, I saw that Planned Parenthood Association of the Mercer Area posted about a show on MTV called No Easy Decision. In the show, it features a young mom, Markai, who was also on 16 & Pregnant. It is not uncommon for young moms to have a repeat pregnancy within two years of having a baby. Markai explains in the show that she did not completely understand how her birth control method worked and a few weeks later she found out she was pregnant. Her and her partner, James, were faced with a decision to make: continue the pregnancy and parent, make an adoption plan, or choose to terminate the pregnancy. In my opinion, the show did an excellent job depicting the difficulty of this choice. The discussions that Markai had with the important people in her life are very real. For many women, decisions involving an unplanned pregnancy are complex and there can be mixed emotions. Markai talks to her partner about the "what if's" of each decision and knows that she will face some consequences no matter what she chooses. I won't spoil the show if you haven't watched it yet, but I think it's interesting how language about what to call it (a thing, baby, or my favorite "the pregnancy") is discussed and the fact that God is mentioned (yes, you can be religious and consider abortion as an option). It was also nice to learn how Markai felt after she made her decision and to hear what other women who faced unplanned pregnancies had to say about their experiences.
What were your thoughts about the show? Do you think Markai made the right decision for herself and her family?
No comments:
Post a Comment