Having a baby is a responsibility that many teens overlook. Sure, you're young! You have your whole life ahead of you. However, is it ever too early to start thinking about bringing your own little one into this world? I think every girl my age should be thinking about having a baby. Here's why:
Imagine reading Eric Carle's "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" to your child as a puzzled look forms on their face. At the end of the book, they look up at you and ask, "Mommy, what's a polar bear?" and you have to explain that when you were a child and the Arctic was very icy, there used to be big white bears that lived there. Imagine sending your child to school, not knowing if it'll be the last time you saw her because school shootings are next to normal. Imagine your child being a healthy weight, but getting made fun of at school for being "skinny" because the majority of the children at school are obese. Imagine your child living in fear of the world they live in and you can't believe how easy we had it when we were their age.
Think about your favorite childhood memories. Do you remember your dad taking you to the big building in the city he worked at? What if you couldn't bring your child to work because security is so tight due to terrorism? Did you love playing "Rock Band" at your cousin's house when the Wii first came out? What if your child when never play a video game because the amount of time children spent in front of a screen got so out of hand that they had to be banned? Remember that beach you used to visit every summer with your family? What if you couldn't carry on the tradition because the beach became so polluted that it would be unhealthy to visit.
Some of those circumstances may seem like a stretch, and that's exactly what the problem is. The world around us is changing more rapidly than we think. It's time to stop thinking that none of these things will never happen. Believe it or not, it's up to our generation to make a change. If you don't do it for anyone else, do it for your children. The world can't fix itself and nothing will change if we just assume that we can't do anything to save it. We are so used to having things done for us because of the recent advances in technology, but this is an issue we need to take upon ourselves to fix. It's time to consider the future.
