Overcoming Teen Pregnancy

- Well baby checkups, at least 4 times the first year. Whether or not you decide to vaccinate, you can use this time with a doctor or other qualified health-care provider to ask questions about your baby's development and get ideas and tips on things you can do with your baby.

- Annual check ups once a year thereafter. Once your child reaches puberty, it's often helpful to have their doctor speak with them about their physical and emotional development. I think that often why the cycle of teen pregnancy repeats itself is because who thinks about being in their twenties with a teenager? Some teen parents often find it difficult to talk to their children about sex. A doctor can explain things to your pre-teen or teen and also inform them about birth control.

-Family excursions. Spend time with your kids, take them places. Some family-friendly places are the zoo, museums, science centers, and parks. I know that some of those places cost a lot of money, like the science center, but most museums and parks are free. You can also just take them for a daily walk around your neighborhood.

- Curtail your own social life. I missed partying and hanging out as a teen and young adult parent, but it's a sacrifice that all parents have to make. Your kids come first, before friends, parties, anything. Please be very careful about who you have around your kids as well.

-When your child gets in school, talk to your child's teachers frequently. Ask questions about how they are doing and how your child is behaving. Keep the lines of communication open. Monitor what your child is doing, make sure they do their homework every day or as assigned and help them study for quizzes and tests.

- Make friends with other teen and young adult parents. This really helps your child to see his/her family as normal. The parents of my daughter's classmates are overwhelmingly a lot older than me, by 15-25 years, sometimes even older than that. Because I have teen parent friends who have children she can hang out with, she knows that our type of family is not so strange and she doesn't feel isolated or embarrassed to have such a young mom.

- Don't hit your kids or put them down by calling them names. Try to discipline them firmy, certainly, but also with loving kindness.

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