This has certainly been a week of teachable moments.
My oldest daughter just turned 17 and we've been watching developments regarding another 17-year-old who's been in the news - Bristol Palin.
I asked my daughter last night what she and her friends had been saying about Bristol, who we learned this week is five months pregnant.
"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid," she said. "And her mother doesn't want sex education in the schools - stupid."
Her mother, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, supports teaching only abstinence in the schools and opposes abortion. In her announcements this week about her daughter she put a positive, almost wholesome spin, on the situation. Bristol will keep the baby, due in December, and will marry her beau.
Perhaps my daughter's negative reaction is shaped by what she sees in the city schools. Not every teenage pregnancy is embraced by supportive parents and not every pregnant teenager finishes high school and goes on to lead an independent, productive life.
She said this is the reality most of the time.
A teachable moment indeed.
Posted
Sep 05 2008, 09:16 AM
by
Virginia Linn