Originally Posted by Bernie

Red -- I meant to say my bicycle tires.
Cassie -- understand your positioin. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Bernie

THANKS BERNIE!!!

PS.....bike tires need air too....unless it is sitting in the garage doing nothing.

I suppose it would be rude of me to ask if all the libs on totv who have been smearing Sarah Palin and blowveating for days on" allegations " ,when proven wrong, to appologize. Or would that be journalistically unfair.

And for all you dems who are bent out of shape because one of Palins daughters is pregnant and might send the wrong signal to our kids, If your lefty pals had not put her kid up to journalistic scrutiny in the press , it would never have been an issue. Benj

Originally Posted by drr47

Before we take Mrs Palin out in the town square and stone her, we should check the facts .

Ok.....not sure when the smearing began...in fact I started this post stating that I was not trying to slam anyone....I was concerned about the teenagers of the world!

Having raised 5 children....3 girls & 2 boys.....with 11 grandchildren....and 2 great grandchildren.....it is imperative to establish early on the real core values, virtues and some religion what is wrong or right in their upbringing. However, once they become teen agers...and heavily dependent upon the company they keep (their friends)...they form their own views, opinions and desires. No matter how hard we try to influence their thinking, their needs (right wrong or indifferent) form their standards.
The influences they are exposed to daily...school...television...the movies...some friends...THE INTERNET...have been influencing them long before they ever heard of Sarah Palin.
All one can do as a parent is the best possible in the loose morals society/environment we they live in today.
I know....our first great grand child was concieved and born out of wed lock. Our grand daughter (the mother) a perfect model of what every parent would like a daughter to be.
They (mother and father) both finished high school. They are now married...both going to college.
As much as I/we were upset and shocked.....it happens in the best of families.
Until such time as core values are returned to that which they are exposed to and bombareded with every day...it will continue to happen...including in the best of families.

Palin's daughter is yesterday's news to most people already. The other influences mentioned are on ongoing and continuous. Want a good (or bad example)? Some schools offering condoms to assure safe sex.

I say good luck to those raising kids today. The prognosis...it can only become more common place...unfortunately!!!!

BTK

At one time I taught sex education to 5th graders. Boys in one class, girls in another. I thought, the parents thought, the district thought that was a good age. We didn't discuss birth control. My husband taught high school and taught sex ed. The curriculum covered birth control methods as well as abstinence.
When my son was about that age he and I looked at a few good movies about "bodies" and read, together, some books. Later, when he fell in love in high school I didn't treat it as "puppy love." We sat together and talked about everything: IF he should decide that he loved this young lady enough to make the commitment to her and become intimate how SHE would feel. (She'd start writing Mrs. XXX XXX on her notebooks, she'd be thinking about wedding gowns, she'd be picking names for her future children, etc.) I told him girls react differently to intimacy - at least I did. I told him that IF he and she decided to be intimate he needed to use protection because... one sentence we would never, never hear in our house was... Ma, XXX is pregnant. I told him I would buy condoms if he made that choice so he wouldn't have to face a pharmacist. We talked about how teen pregnancy forever changes your options. How teen moms are more likely to not finish their educational plans and are likely to have a second baby within two years of the first. We talked about teen parents and poverty. We talked about respect for him. Respect for her. We talked about "urges" and "needs". I told him I would like for them to wait but I couldn't follow them around and in the end I couldn't make their decision. It was a look-me-straight-in-the-eye conversation. It was a conversation which we repeated frequently. There was no yelling, no embarrassment, no scolding, nothing "out of bounds."
Schools can only do so much. I don't think an "abstinence only" curriculum is best for teenagers. We delay adulthood for a long time in this country. I think we need to take a deep breath and have a real conversation with each of our children - starting early and repeating it often. I think we need to understand the difference between what we wish would happen and what is likely to happen. As adults we know that teen love isn't the same as mature love, but they don't.

Originally Posted by billethkid

Having raised 5 children....3 girls & 2 boys.....with 11 grandchildren....and 2 great grandchildren.....it is imperative to establish early on the real core values, virtues and some religion what is wrong or right in their upbringing. However, once they become teen agers...and heavily dependent upon the company they keep (their friends)...they form their own views, opinions and desires. No matter how hard we try to influence their thinking, their needs (right wrong or indifferent) form their standards.
The influences they are exposed to daily...school...television...the movies...some friends...THE INTERNET...have been influencing them long before they ever heard of Sarah Palin.
All one can do as a parent is the best possible in the loose morals society/environment we they live in today.
I know....our first great grand child was conceived and born out of wed lock. Our grand daughter (the mother) a perfect model of what every parent would like a daughter to be.
They (mother and father) both finished high school. They are now married...both going to college.
As much as I/we were upset and shocked.....it happens in the best of families.
Until such time as core values are returned to that which they are exposed to and bombarded with every day...it will continue to happen...including in the best of families.

Palin's daughter is yesterday's news to most people already. The other influences mentioned are on ongoing and continuous. Want a good (or bad example)? Some schools offering condoms to assure safe sex.

I say good luck to those raising kids today. The prognosis...it can only become more common place...unfortunately!!!!

BTK

Again...I state to you....I don't care that she is not married....I care that she is 17 years old!!! The marriage thing means NOTHING to me as I am not even allowed to be married to the one I love...however I can be upset about the fact that she is 17 years old and is shown in the spot light of the RNC as a wonderful pregnant grown up with her fiance at her side.....

:: SHE IS 17~! WHAT DOES EVERYONE NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING!

I KNOW IT HAPPENS....I KNOW KIDS HAVE SEX....I KNOW KIDS GET PREGNANT.....

I still feel that this is VERY scary for the teens of the world....a message needs to be sent that it is HARD to be a mom at 17.....and not every parent is going to support their teen in pregnancy like the Palin family....Bless them for being able to.....

I am not sure what more I have to say.....I guess it doesn't matter!

Originally Posted by cmj

CMJ...thank you for sharing this...I agree that communication is important! My daughter (at 11 ) knows more than I ever knew at her age...and she knows the truth and knows it from ME!

Thank you for sharing your insights as a parent and teacher!!

Cassie, any time I hear of someone under 25 having a child it bothers me. Few are mature enough before age 25 in today's society to be a parent. Even so, it happens. We can't stop our kids from having sex if they're bound and determined. I much prefer that Palin is supporting her daughter in this than leaving her on the roadside to figure out what to do on her own. I'm not going to condemn her for her daughter's pregnancy and I will applaud her willingness to stand by her daughter. That doesn't mean she approves (I doubt any sane parent would be thrilled).

Yes, it is hard to explain this to our daughters but it really isn't something Palin has a lot of control over. Her daughter is pregnant. She's lucky enough to have a boy who wants to step up and be a father and a husband. These are not easy choices for kids nor for their parents. This is a private family matter that should stay within the family. It is something that happens to many families -- some of the best and some of the worst. As I said, to me this should not be an issue of this campaign. Parents are going to have to decide how much to discuss with their children about this issue.

What you can do is discuss how hard it will be for Palin's daughter. She's not going to have a lot of privacy through this pregnancy, the birth nor the marriage. No matter how powerful her mother is, she's going to have to live with her boy friend/husband and lose out on college, sororieties, dances, football games -- all the joys of emerging adulthood. Instead, she's going to be changing diapers, listening to a baby cry at all hours of the day and night, sacrifice for the baby. Being a teen parent is hard regardless of who your parents are.

I agree with you 100% Red. I hope this opens discussions between parents and their children.


Shirleevee

Do you really think this boy wants to marry now? This is a high profile shotgun wedding if I've ever seen one!

chels

As keeper of all liberal knowledge, I just wondered what makes you think 'This boy" doesnt want to marry now. I think it's kinda uppity for you to jump to that conclusion not knowing the truth. Or the truth as libs see it. Benj

Oh for God's sake Benj, his blog has been reprinted everywhere! Do some research on Levi Jonhston! And don't call me uppity just because I have an opinion that doesn't parrot yours.

Chells
Here is the truth. Neither you or cassie have a clue wether That Boy wants to marry or not, Blogs or not you dont know. Having inserted yourself in the Palin family business doesn't give you any insight what so ever as to what they want or decide to do. Bringing personal private Palin business up as an election issue Is unfair and anything you might guess they might be thinking about is just your postulating with no knowledge what so ever, Just an opinion. Really a guess.
In your opinion that That Boy stepping up and taking responsibility is to you some sinister plan by Palin. And not a showing of moral fortitude from That Boy. I'll bet if she had an abortion you would have applauded that as an open minded decision. And if That Boy had run off to some far away place, you would of said he made a good decision. Benj

Gee, as an Obama supporter it must be difficult to know Levi and the Palins so well that you KNOW Levi doesn't want to marry now and this is a shot gun wedding.

Give this family some privacy. This situation should not be part of the election. Anyone who thinks that other teenagers are going to look at Palins daughters pregancy as an OK for them to get pregant, you certainly are giving the Palin family lots of 'power' What we need to zero in on is the music, idols, young stars dressing as young adults and other stuff teenagers are drawn too.

I cannot understand why anyone would want to "Do some research on Levi Jonhston!", the boyfriend of the VP candidates daughter.

Time better served researched Sen Obama's background and his ties to the radical left. or Sen McCains background or the candidates stand on health care !