Chapter 4 Lesson 2

1
Chapter 4 Lesson 2

• Becoming a Parent

2
Youll Learn To

• Identify reasons why people have children.
• Describe the role and responsibilities of parents
  in promoting healthy families.
• Evaluate the effects of family relationships on
  physical, mental/emotional, and social health.
• Analyze the importance and benefits of abstinence.

3

• Raising children can be the most rewarding and
  enriching aspects of marriage. Couples who face
  the many challenges of parenting feel great joy
  and love as they watch their children develop.
  Many married couples find that building a
  healthy, happy family together is an important,
  fulfilling, life experience.

4
Why People Have Children

• Pass on the family name
• Hereditary-genetic characteristics passed from
  parent to child.
• Give ones parents a grandchild
• Wanting to be loved by someone
• Giving into pressure from friends or parents
• Bringing stability to a shaky marriage

5
Why People Have Childrencontinued..

• The only truly good reason to bring a child into
  the world is a readiness to raise a family and
  share the love of the marriage.

6
Parental Responsibilities

• Providing care, support and love in a way that
  leads to a childs total development.
• Providing the basic physical needs of the child
  (food, clothing, shelter and medical care)

7
Parental Responsibilities continued

• Meeting their childs developmental emotional
  needs
• Ensuring that the child is loved unconditionally
  receives the proper nurturing and education to
  prosper later in life.
• Give guidance-help them understand right from
  wrong

8
Parental Responsibilities continued

• Help them set limits provide guidance
• Help them become self-directed capable of
  accepting responsibility for their actions.
• Parents strive to give their children a loving,
  safe, supportive environment in which they can
  grow into responsible, healthy, happy,
  independent people.

9
Teen Parenthood

• Parenting is demanding full of challenges and
  they are even greater for teens.
• The reason most teens give for wanting to have a
  baby is to have someone to love them.

10
Teen Parenthood continued

• Teens are not prepared to handle the demands and
  responsibilities of raising a child.
• Most teens find the reality of raising a baby to
  be overwhelming.

11
Teen Parenthood continued

• For most teens, having a baby is NOT a conscious
  decision-78 are unplanned.
• A smaller amount of teens plan their pregnancy,
  believing that a child will solve their other
  problems.

12
Impact on Physical Health

• Regular prenatal care is essential (healthy diet,
  adequate physical activity and rest)
• Teen mothers face a high risk of medical
  complications (early or prolonged labor, high
  blood pressure and anemia)
• Teens have more miscarriages.
• Babies of teen mothers are more likely to be born
  with health problems.

13
Impact on Social Health

• Having a baby makes it impossible for teens to
  have an active social life.
• They often have to juggle difficult schedules and
  cannot spend time with friends and family
• Pregnancy is the most common reason teens drop
  out of school-only 1/3 of teen mothers finish
  high school.

14
Single Teen Parents

• Most female teens who become pregnant do not
  marry the father of their baby.
• Most babies of teen parents are raised in a
  single-parent family.
• Teen mothers are dependent on others for
  financial support, are more likely to stay in a
  low-income bracket, and are unable to lead the
  life of a normal teen.

15
Single Teen Parents continued

• Many teen mothers live with their parents-some
  states require this to receive financial aid from
  the government
• Most states require a teen father to provide
  financial support for his child-he may have to
  quit school and get a job.

16
Deciding Not to Become a Teen Parent

• The decision to delay parenthood until they are
  mature and in a committed marriage provides the
  best opportunities for a happy future.
• They are being responsible and realistic when
  they make the decision to wait until they are
  older to become parents.
• Responsible teens recognize that only abstinence
  will offer complete protection against pregnancy.
• When teens exercise their right to be abstinent,
  they are protecting their health and their future.

17
Chapter 4 Lesson 2 Review Questions

1. List reasons people give for deciding to have
   children.
2. Explain why pregnancy presents a health risk to a
   teen and her baby.
3. List some of the risks and challenges for a teen
   father.