Monday, September 01, 2008

Teen Pregnancy is a Great Idea

Rather than try to "educate" teens to prevent pregnancy and disease, just let them do what they do naturally. They'll have all their youthful energy to face late-night feedings and diaper changes, followed by a full day of work the next day.

Put young parents to work in the grunt jobs no one wants right now. Pay them a minimal stipend, as well as taxpayer-funded child support until their kids are old enough to go into school and the parents can resume formal education as well. Think how much life experience a working-class young mother or father will bring to college. Down will go the rates of partying and binge drinking. For one thing, the youngsters will have spent those wild years shackled to the responsibilities of their young families. For another, they'll be old enough to drink legally by the time they enter college or other advanced training, so it won't seem like such an enticing forbidden fruit.

Getting people back to reproduction at a more natural age will help bring us back to the simple virtues of life a few thousand years ago. Drop the age of consent back to 12 or 14 and quit trying to buck biology. The teens who have their families early will have gotten that out of the way. The so-called smart ones who wait will have to catch up when their bodies have already started to slow down.

Teen parents will bring their own parents back into the child-rearing business while they're still young enough to keep up with the grandkids and correct any mistakes they may have made with their own offspring. A grandparent at 35 will have a fresher approach than one at 60.

Pack those generations together. Our purpose on this planet is simply to make more of us. Commend our teens for wanting to get on with it without waiting. You go, kids!

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