Several months ago a bright, young marketing guy produced and gave us this video. "Mother's Choice" gets at the choices facing low-income parents who struggle to make a positive life for themselves and their children.
The spot has aired several times thanks to WFAA TV Channel 8 here in Dallas.
Our work is all about engaging people like the mom behind the sounds you will hear as you read of her dilemma.
Remember her today.
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2 weeks ago
9 comments:
I know there is no way to say what I am going to say without sounding harsh, but hopefully you, and others will cut me some slack. As I watched the video I was wandering about the initial choice of having the baby. What is being done to help poor teenagers from choosing ot get pregnant in the first place?
RC, thanks for the post.
You assume that the baby crying is born to a teenager. Why?
To answer your question, we are working hard with children and teens on these issues, but not to a large enough scale. We have found that the root cause of so many babies born to unwed, teenaged mothers is poverty.
But the point here is the baby. The life of the child, the health and welfare of the child, the education and housing of the child, the future of the child in terms of its own development, life and contribution to the community and the cost of failing to respond adequately to the child.
Understanding the world of a poor teenaged girl is crucial to the this process. I think few of us really comprehend what it is like. I have had more than one very young teen mom in the church here tell me they had a baby or babies so that "I would have someone to love and someone to love me back."
Fighting poverty at every level and in a multi-dimensional manner is key.
Great video. Very simple, and yet very meaningful. Thanks for posting this.
The idea that all parents "choose" to have a baby is fairly ridiculous, RC. Just because it was easy for you to remain abstinent does not mean that other people had the same lack of social pressures, economic factors, possibly abusive parents driving them out of the home and therefore wanting to attach to someone else, etc.
I get so tired of the condesending manner in which poor people are treated. So basically what Anonymous is saying is that if you are poor you are also stupid and can't make choices. I, like most people, have made my share of bad choices, but helping to bring a child into the world was not one of them. I just don't think it is a foregone conclusion that teen pregnancy has to continue to be an epidemic as it is in so many of our communities. I for one believe that poor people can be taught better behavior just like anyone else, and buy the way, you are a nut case if you think it was easy for me to remain abstinent. It was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made. You also make some pretty big assumptions about me when, for all I know, you know nothing about me. I grew up poor, but I was brought up in a poor intact family. While I was poor in material I was rich in all the things that mattered.
It is not condescending to argue that the poor have other factors driving their decisions than choice. It simply acknowledges the reality of poverty, which is about far more than personal choice.
I think anonymous 1 above (not me) made some assumptions that might be unfair. But as someone who's read this weblog for some time, and who has seen your name come up often, I am sure that I have some assumptions about who you are and what you think. For example, I assume you are anti-abortion.
Not to say that's right, just trying to share some perspective.
I think that the point was: why do you assume that the mother in the video chose the baby?
I never said that every birth is a real choice, but would anyone argue that there are not many poor young women who only worsen their lot in life by choosing to have a child? If you are poor are you given a pass from personal responsibility? In my comments I wasn't even thinking about one particular mother, just a trend. For better or worse in my first post I was just giving my reaction to the posted video. I think I have that right if I understand the purpose of this blog. I think I need a break from this blog for a while. I have probably posted too often anyway. See you folks later. Peace.
From my perspective, the video is not about whether the mother had a choice. It looks to me like this is all about whether we are willing to help her with the reality of her child, chosen or unchosen.
I, for one, believe that we should help her, even if it was her "choice" to have the baby. I think that's what it all comes down to: being there for each other.
Thanks, Bob H. You brought us back to the only point our video intends.
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