The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the U.S. teen birth rate reached a historic low in 2010, dropping to the lowest level reported in the seven decades for which a consistent series of rates is available.
While the experts say this drop can be contributed to better sex education and better access to contraception, can more be done?
Even though the divorce rate is on the rise in the U.S., big props are due to the fathers who have stepped up and been positive contributions in the everyday lives of their children.
And with the rate of marriages in our country dropping significantly and steadily over the past 40 years, according to the National Center for Family and Marriage Research, mothers still overwhelmingly are heads of households. Whether married or not, mothers have such a great impact on their children. In most cases, mothers are the first demonstrators of self-respect and self-worth.
According to the Parents As Teachers publication “The Important Role of Fathers in the Lives of Young Children” by William Scott and Amy De La Hunt, fathers play a significant role in fostering social-emotional development in the lives of their children. Our sons want to be like Dad, and our daughters want to find a man like Dad.
The teenage years are often a time when parents feel their children trying to separate from them. But according to the article “Adolescent-Parent Attachment: Bonds that Support Healthy Development” (published in the October 2004 issue of Pediatrics & Child Health, the journal of the Canadian Pediatric Society), public health initiatives that encourage parents to stay connected with their adolescents would help to change the general impression that parents hold about adolescent disinterest and rebellion.
Support within the educational system, emphasizing the continued importance of attachment to parents and other adults during adolescence, would also be beneficial. We must get closely involved with the activities our teenagers are interested in and the people with whom they are involved.
