Last week’s episode of The Secret Life of the American Teenager began with a conversation that I thought would make an interesting blog topic. Pregnant 15-year-old Amy (played by Shailene Woodley) and her mother, Anne (played by Molly Ringwald), talked about who was going to care for the baby after the baby is born.

Amy assumed that she would continue with her life (school, band practice, etc.) while her mother took care of the baby during those hours. Anne said that she planned to get a job because her marriage is breaking up, so she was not going to be the one caring for the baby. Instead, if Amy wants to keep the baby, she will need to get a job that pays enough to cover child care during school hours. Anne also pointed out that most part-time jobs do not include health insurance.

I assumed that Anne was trying to make a point that adoption would be the best option in this situation. Based upon the previews for upcoming episodes, it looks like this assumption is correct and that Anne and Amy will be butting heads over whether or not Amy should place the baby for adoption. (As of this episode, Amy was six months pregnant.)

In this blog, I would like to focus upon what responsibility, if any, that Anne has in helping Amy parent her baby if Amy chooses to parent.

On the one hand, Amy is a minor who might not even be aware of the importance of health insurance. Considering that I, as a 32-year-old woman, had no clue about how to parent a newborn baby (thank goodness for What to Expect the First Year!), I am confident that a 15-year-old girl does not know much, either. So, for the sake of the baby, a 15-year-old mother is going to need some assistance.

But, does that make it Anne’s job (or any grandparent’s job) to raise another baby?

If Amy is mature enough to make the decision to parent a baby, doesn’t it become her responsibility, and not her mother’s, to parent the baby? If Amy wants to argue that she is an adult and wants to be this baby’s mother, then shouldn’t Amy be the one to take on all of the same responsibilities that any other mother handles?

I don’t think there are easy answers to these questions.

I know several women who became parents as teenagers who did a fabulous job in raising their babies. Without exception, none of those women would want their children to be teen parents.

The statistics are dismal for the children of teen parents:

• 23,600 or 5% of children born to teen mothers will end up in foster care, partly due to higher rates of abuse.

• Teenage sons of teen mothers are 2.7 times more likely to be incarcerated than sons of older mothers.

• Children born to unmarried, high school drop-out teen mothers are 10 times more likely to live in poverty than those born to married women over the age of 20.

~ Unique Needs of Children Born to Teen Parents

Once a teenager becomes pregnant, there are no easy answers. How much responsibility the grandparent should take upon himself in parenting the baby is only one of many questions that have no easy answers.

Other blogs about Secret Life of the American Teenager:

• New TV Show: “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”
• First Reference to Adoption on “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”
• Rights of the Expecting Father in Crisis Pregnancy
• Do Racy Television Shows Contribute to Crisis Pregnancies in Teenagers?

Photo credit: Lynda Bernhardt