A Place I Know

I have often wondered in great length in the difference in beauty two people see. Our life on Hill road has been the most remarkable journey of nature and beauty anyone could have ever asked for.

What my family and I see has been completely different than the developer and the land owner themselves see.

I’m sitting here at what we call froggie pond we call it froggie pond (our dog coco enjoys this pond perhaps the most) because in the spring time this pond has a abundance of little frog’s that enjoy the spring time sun which brings lots of bugs for them to eat.

I look around the tranquility of the water and the gentle breeze that moves the water so ever smoothly. The tullies now dry from being winter are swaying in the breeze that makes a rustling sound that is almost like a lullaby.

As far as I can see mountains very little sight of man only a fence that separates the property line.

It is in a place like this that most people would only dream of an oasis of time forgotten where inspiration is truly felt. A place I love to come to think and ponder over my life’s journey.

It’s a wonder at why I see things through open clear eyes that are not tainted with dollar signs. This serene part of land to them is only seen with the greed of a dangerous bottomless open pocket. Land to them is signature golf course, hotels, and homes with lots on them.

The land I see before me will no longer exist as I see it. This land has a home to thousands of animals however; most of them will not be relocated but will suffer a fate of destruction. Unfortunately, for them their voice is not heard by the man, their home will be gone just like ours will be.

It is truly sad to see this happen and know in my heart there is nothing that I can do to save this little space in this big world.

I have to admit I was a little timid moving out here, living in a house where no one has lived in at least 5 years, but over time we have breathed life into the house and made it our home. To know that soon it will be all over has made me feel sad inside.

Perhaps the land owner didn’t come up as much because he too was afraid he would fall in love with this land. Instead he chooses to fall prey to the mighty dollar sign. I don’t feel sorry for him though he is a big boy and clearly knew what he was getting himself into. Over the past 5 years I have come to understand that he does not breathe air but other’s disparity. He prey’s on the weak business like an animal that has been wounded than pounces to strike the final blow of despair out of their body. He is an ego extrinsic with no human soul. I have looked into those eyes and seen for myself the emptiness and lifelessness of nothing being there emptiness with human skin.

Teen Pregnancy

The most important reason to educate yourself about teen pregnancy is to be able to devise methods on preventing it. (Teen Pregnancy Prevention) In 2006, there were approximately 750,000 pregnancies to women younger than the age of 20 and the rate of pregnancy was 71.5 per 1,000 women age 15-19. (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy) Prevention is the key to succeeding when fighting against any form of health matter. Just watching an evening of television you will see hundred of ads on preventing anything from high blood pressure, tooth decay, and prostate cancer all urging you to take preventive care in seeing a doctor for regular checkups. However, what you don’t see much of ads informing the public on teenage pregnancy, drug use, or even adoption. With a 3% increase in teenage pregnancy in 2006 you would think that a strategic game plan would be in effect. That government may want to take evasive action on getting serious about adopting a new plan to help defeat teenage pregnancy.

          Teenage pregnancy is highly controversial topic in the United States; we have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the world. (Kmietowicz) It is way past time to get down to business and get serious on devising a plan of action that is not only going to take the US off the top of the list, but help take a bite out of the 9.1 billion dollars that tax payers are spending on teen childbearing. (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy) We need to come together not only as a nation but as parents, grandparents, and friends to brainstorm a whole new approach to the campaign to prevent teenage pregnancy. We must stop pointing fingers at who is to blame and start applying the stages of the creative thinking process, search for challenges, express the problem or issue, investigate the problem or issue and finally produce the ideas to help change the way our young view sexual relations. The final step is put those ideas to a plan and implement the fight against teenage pregnancy.

          We must keep in mind that these are in fact children, while it continues to be adults that come up with the programs. We must also keep in mind that we as adults are not children so our brain has grown and we do not think like children. Much research has been conducted on how a child learns and the research show that children learn in different ways so we need to curtail our prevention program to entail the four broad areas of learning styles: (Smialek)

·       Visual learners’ best remember what is seen. (Smialek)

·       Auditory learners’ best remember what is heard. (Smialek)

·       Kinesthetic learners learn best by doing, experimenting and involvement. (Smialek)

·       Tactile learners like to use their hands and fingers to learn. (Smialek)

Now taking this into account we must design teen pregnancy programs with these learning styles in mind. I believe that there is not just one solid approach to prevention in teen pregnancy, but why not incorporate several?

            For example “Every 15 Minutes” a program designed to prevent teen drinking and driving. Unique in its design and powerful in its impact, "Every 15 Minutes" is an educational experience that reminds us all of the dangers associated with driving while impaired and texting. The crash is staged, the emotions are real! (Every 15 Minutes) Now this program is a collaborated community effort where all involved and those watching are hugely effected. This program entails a car crash, blood, police, ambulance, hospitals, a good-bye letter written by the child, and a funeral. This program is quite powerful because it involves all aspects the broad area of learning styles.

          Why not do something on the same lines for teen pregnancy. You could name it, “Every Minute A Teen Becomes Pregnant,” according the Realityworks Infant Simulator and Realcare Parenting Program that is their statistic. This program is quite unique all its own it offers a little dose of reality to actually having a baby. There are variations to this program that school’s can obtain like infant care simulation, health science, shaken baby syndrome simulation, substance abuse awareness, and pregnancy simulation. (Realityworks) Each of these programs designed of offer teens hands on experience of an infant.  Through technological advancements, RealCare Baby provides the most realistic and meaningful simulated infant care experience available today. (Realityworks) Horizon Solutions Site has the best description of this program. 

Baby requires round-the-clock care that includes feeding, burping, diapering, rocking, proper head support, and proper positioning.  In addition, Baby is equipped with sensors to detect abuse or mishandling.  Participants wear tamper-proof bracelets with a wireless ID system to ensure that they are the primary caregivers throughout the simulation.  This hands-on approach allows adolescents to feel the demands of parenting in a way that can’t be illustrated by words, images, or passive baby stand-ins such as eggs or sacks of flour. (Realityworks infant simulator and RealCare® Parenting Program )

Fifteen different care schedules are available – ranging from easy to difficult.  These schedules are based on diaries kept by parents of real infants.  A variety of programming options provide individualized experiences.  A detailed reporting feature allows the facilitator to see how well Baby was cared for, or if Baby was neglected or abused. (Realityworks infant simulator and RealCare® Parenting Program )

I know from a parenting stand point this program would be most beneficial. My teenage daughter had to carry an egg around for a week. A baby simulator would have been a more effective way to approach an actual real baby due to the fact that she would have to feed it, change it, and would literally have to go everywhere with the baby. She would also have to get up for feedings in the middle of night. All these things are a little dose of reality that an egg or bag of flour just cannot offer teens. More than 40,000 RealCare Baby dolls have now found homes across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. A number of teachers find the experience of parenting the dolls effective in changing students' attitudes toward parenthood. (Cromwell) Depending on the doll and the program that goes with the baby depends on the price. Realityworks website does not offer any pricing you have to contact them directly. Just from conducting some searches Google I found the price to run anywhere from $200 to $250 per doll, however Realityworks has donated dolls to several schools. (Newswire) On the other hand there is federal funding available for teenage pregnancy prevention programs according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy.

          This program also incorporates another aspect parent involvement. Just by bringing the baby home opens up the door for the parent to become involved in their own child’s life and education. It can allow the parent to talk about pregnancy with their child in a whole different light. Parent involvement in their child’s life is a crucial part to ensure that their child is growing up in a healthy way. Communication is vital in staying in tune to your child’s surroundings and what is happening in their life. Perhaps that could be one of the problems. In Europe and in other countries sex is more widely talked about and accepted. In the United States we don’t really talk about sex, sex is something that is dirty; people just don’t want to talk about it. Instead the United States exploits it, with reality shows about 16 year old pregnant girls. This and other shows have opened up Pandora’s Box by glamorizing the effects of being a pregnant 16 year old on television and tabloid magazines. These kinds of show have put a spin on becoming a teen with a baby they gave these girls a whole new life of popularity and an extreme amount of money that most of them are not using in the right way.  As a nation we need to say enough is enough to exploits such as this and get back to basics, again opening up that line of communication with your teen. By not talking about it we are creating a barrier with not only ourselves but our children as well.

          Teaching an Abstinence-only education is a great program it does focus on teaching young people that abstaining from sex until marriage is the best means of ensuring that they avoid infection with HIV, other sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy. (What is an abstinence based approach to sex education?) This program explains to the teen what is expected from them. This program tends to include the following teaching objectives, which are derived from a definition given in Federal Law in the United States: (What is an abstinence based approach to sex education?)

· Abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage is the expected standard for all school age children

· Abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid out of wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems

· A mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity

· Sexual activity outside the context of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects

Those are just to name a few. However, take this to another level to add a comprehensive sex education to this program that encompass sex education that comprehensive approaches do not focus either solely or so closely on teaching young people that they should abstain from sex until they are married. And although they do explain to young people the potential benefits of delaying having sex until they are emotionally and physically ready, they also make sure that they are taught how to protect themselves from infections and pregnancy when they do decide to have sex. (What is an abstinence based approach to sex education?)

          I believe that is the key that is missing here with the Abstinence-only approach to teenage pregnancy is that abstinence focuses on just that Abstinence. While a comprehensive approach encompasses it all it teaches them how to protect themselves from infection, and most important pregnancy. I think what we must keep in mind here is to have a well rounded approach to teenage pregnancy. We can combine attributes of these programs, we all want the same thing and that is to prevent teenage pregnancy. In the combination of these two programs have teens come up with a slogan name, a poster, and tag name for the poster. By doing this, again you have included all areas of broad learning styles.

Having teens become more involved with this program is the key to making these programs actually work. We have to keep in mind that we are all in this fight together that we much work together in order to solve the many problems that surround us. Our youth will someday grow up and run our world why not include them now in decisions that need to be made. Have them help aid in programs that are directly related to them. I believe by doing this we can create a whole level into trying to solve problems that utilize the art of the creative process and critical thinking.

Works Cited

Cromwell, Sharon. ""Baby" Helps Teens Think It Over!" 2010. Education World. 18 February 2011 <http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr077.shtml>.

Every 15 Minutes. 18 February 2010 <http://www.every15minutes.com/enter/>.

Kmietowicz, Zosia. "US and UK are top in teenage pregnancy rates." 8 June 2002.

British Medical Journal. 17 February 2011 <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1123322/>.

Newswire, PRWeb. "Realityworks, Inc. Donates Products Totaling More Than $245,000 to Benefit Schools in Wisconsin, Idaho, Connecticut and Oklahoma." 20 January 2010. HighBeam Research. 18 February 2011 <http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-221622061.html>.

Realityworks. 18 February 2011 <http://www.realityworks.com/home.html>.

Realityworks infant simulator and RealCare® Parenting Program ." 18 September 2006. HORIZON Solutions Site. 18 February 2010 <http://www.solutions-site.org/artman/publish/article_47.shtml>.

Smialek, Dr. Mary Ann. "How Do Children Learn?" maryannsmialek.com. 18 February 2010 <http://www.maryannsmialek.com/index.html>.

Teen Pregnancy Prevention. 2009. 17 February 2010 <http://www.pregnancy-info.net/teen_pregnancy_prevention.html>.

The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. 2011. 17 February 2011 <http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/national-data/default.aspx>.

"What is an abstinence based approach to sex education?" 2011. Avert.com. 18 February 2011 <http://www.avert.org/abstinence.htm>.