In today’s society, teen moms and teen pregnancies have become more prominent. With so many people and networks promoting teen pregnancies, would it be better to add nurseries to the public school system? Would it create a distraction?
There are already some public schools that offer a nursery or preschool for teen moms. Northwest High School in Germantown, Maryland offers a free preschool service for their students in order to prevent dropouts. Many of these students have benefitted from having a nursery in their high school. It has made for a more welcoming school environment, and the students feel safer about having their children near them.
Shirley Kelly, the Family Center Team Leader at Nikola Tesla Education Opportunity Center, said that the nursery can only help the students that ask for their help. Although, not every teen needs the nursery’s help; however, for those who do, the nurseries are available.
Not only is there a nursery at Tesla, but there are also special classes for teen parents, because said Kelly, “We offer parent education classes through our partnership with Community Partnership for Child Development (CPCD), who is the Head Start and Early Head Start grantee in El Paso County.” For teens and parents, it is important for them to learn the skills support themselves and their children, now and for the future. According to Kelly, “CPCD has a Family Advocate who helps parents set goals, provides parent education and offers referrals to additional resources in the community that our teen parents may benefit from.
Unfortunately, most teens are embarrassed to ask for help, Mostly though – once teen parents learn about the nursery, see the program in action and understand what the program can provide for them, they are very appreciative.”
Kelly said, “Relationships are the cornerstone of everything we do and the staff works hard to develop strong and supportive relationships with our teen parents and with their infants and toddlers.” Unfortunately, teen parents are often judged and mocked for their new lives. This can create conflicts in the programs set in place to help teen parents.
“Often times a new parent enters the program expecting – to be judged as- everyone else – judges them- we are going to tell them how they’ve failed or what they are doing wrong as a parent,” said Kelly.
Teen parents need to be supported more than anyone because they expect to be patronized by everyone. The lives these teens lead usually start debates; however, it is how they choose to live.
“The staff has to work hard sometimes to get past that and gain the trust of teen parents. But we really believe that when you strengthen a parent, you strengthen a child.”
Even though society acts as if it is open to everyone, it is a cruel place especially for teen parents. Teen parents are promoted by television and yet, in reality teen parents are shamed and scorned, but with daycares in high school, these parents can receive the help that they need.