Paths Not Taken

I told myself that I wasn’t going to entertain the thought of writing about this but I have three daughters and I feel that I should. First let me say that Hollywood and the media has it’s priorities mixed the fuck up. Eventhough Jamie Lynn Spears is sixteen years old and pregnant, I’d like to focus on parenting skills or the lack there of. We are not neanderthals we know that teenage pregnancy is a reality. We know this all to well within the black community. We all know what her sister is going through. We haven’t heard about the girl’s father (or at least I haven’t). The mother is a money grubbing stage mother. She might have felt that the only person that really cared about her was the nineteen year old live in boyfriend. When young teenage girls feel as if they have no support system they tend to turn to the first person that says I love you.

This girl has a lot more going on than just being hot in the draws. unprotected sex at sixteen, a nineteen year old live in boyfriend, a father who we don’t see, a sister who doesn’t know where the fuck she is half the time and who can’t take care of the children she already has, and a mother who is there for the money. Am I playing devil’s advocate………you bet your sweet ass I am. The child (Jamie Lynn) is in need of acceptance, not from the public but from the very people who are suppose to be there for her.

She maybe able to take care of this child financially but is she able to take care of it mentally? Is this sending an ok to my twelve year old daughter who loves to watch Zoey 101 that it’s ok to get pregnant at sixteen?

Is this a racial issue? Whould the situation be different if say……Raven Samone would have gotten pregnant at the age of sixteen? Do you think that Raven Samone would have been let out of her contract if this had happened to her? You bet your sweet ass she would have. All of a sudden there are new public service announcements about safe sex and abstinance and now Nickolodeon is doing a show pertaining to Jamie Lynn hosted by Linda Ellerbe. Most of Hollywood is rallying around her in support but my question is where were all of these actors and actresses when Quadranika, Lexus, and Laqueshanae ended up pregnant at the age of fifteen and sixteen living in the Hood who wasn’t financially able to support thier children which lead them to benefit from goverment assistance. It’s a war against the haves and the have nots.

This is not cute folks……AT ALL!!!

Why do you think this hasn’t happened to Raven Samone yet? Say what the hell you want to say but there is a difference between Jamie Lynn and Raven Samone.

Raven knows or has been taught that as a young black actress with her status, there is no room to mess up or to get into trouble. It’s that unspoken knowledge that you can’t do the things that your white counterparts can because no matter what, your going to be perceived in a way that the media wants to portray you which at times is not in a good light.

People we have to seriously have to take situations like this in our own hands as parents. Especially with our daughters. No matter the fame,wealth, or race. It is up to us to teach our young girls that they are loved and are beautiful and intelligient in their own right. Having power and status does not exlude them from the outside world.

As the parent of three young girls, I would never tell anyone what my girls will or will not do! I’m not and will not be with them 24/7. I know that there are peer pressures that they will eventually have to deal with. It is my job to teach them what’s right before it gets to that point. I’m a strong believer in having sex education taught in the classrooms and at home.

After everything that I’ve taught my girls about this matter and they still end up pregnant, I’ll be at ease knowing that I’ve done my part. It was their choice to not listen or take the needed percautions……hence they would have to take that resposibility and try and make the best of it.