Molly,

I think you need to focus on being a student and not judging everyone around you. You're 21 and do not know how to spell disappointed? You have many misspelled words and your grammar is terrible. What college do you go to anyway? You say these teens don’t take any responsibility for their actions? What do you think they are you doing? They choose to give their babies a chance at life, as opposed to taking the easy way out: abortion. It’s obvious you need to grow up a little bit. From what you posted, it sounds like you’re suffering from a great deal of ignorance. YOU are the problem with America today!.....

Molly if you were in our shoes how would you feel about what you just wrote? We are not ignorant. In fact I am an RN and i work with pregnant moms. I was a teen mother and now I own my own house, my own car. I pay all my bills, and after finding out i was pregnant i was independent of my parents. people who judge will be judged in time. i can only hope you grow up and stop acting like a child yourself. you should except people for their differences.

I would like to say that I although I was 21 when I had my first my daughter. I truley commend those teens that do take on the responibilty to raise the babies that they had made accident or not. It takes alot to be a mom or dad at a early age in life. To be so young and do that is amazing and to lose all there young lifes at an ealry age to grow up and take care of there kids. I commend that I am now 31 with 3 kids and till this day it is hard at times with them. Having families by our side to help is a good thing. I pray for you all and good. And don't forget to have fun they do grow fast.

i just want to tell all those people out there like Lynne that i'm only 17 and i live out on my own with my 8month old son and his father. we may be young but we can do everything u can. dont think for a second that we are not capable of taking csre of our children. you have no right to say your daughter couldnt have raised her child because you never gave her a chance. what im trying to say is it doesnt matter how old you are or if the father is there or not! you can raise a child in any situation it just depends on the love you give!!!!

Dear DR.Keith,
I am now 21 years old with a two years old daughter and 8 months pregnant. I am not with the father of my children because he choose his money, drugs and other women over me and his children. I love my children to death and will walk to the end of the eath for them .I find that it is harder to be a teen parent and not have the fatther with you. It hurts me soo bad because my daughter stands by the door all day asking for her daddy. But what should I say?? I tell her that mommy is here and will never leave. My daughter is all I got. I dont have a place for myself right now and I dont have a lot of money to support us. My mother and steppfather have been helping me out but that is only for so long.So, you see that this is a big subject for teens out there. To have babies when you are a baby, but to do it alone. I think that we as a nation should put out a helping hand and hlep teens like me instead of pointing the finger.

Yours Truley,
Erika

I was raised in a great home and I still became pregnant at 17. I cannot believe how ignorant people are towards teen moms. Instead of helping they just look down on you. My son is now 19 years old and he is a great kid. he is in his first year of college and has never been a problem for me. People seem to think if you have your kids when you are so young your kid has no chance in life and will just be a drain on society. I was not a drain on society i finished school and I worked and my son works. I want people to now just because you had your kids young it doesnt mean you are bad or your kid is bad.

my life at home with my father and step mom was just like brooke but when my parents found out i was pregnet they blew up i got pregnet at 16 and around 3 months pregnet my parents kicked me out so my husband and i moved in 2gether and now my dad loves his 2 grandchildren and he understands why we moved on our own so i understand where shes coming from my dad didnt believe my love for my husband and now we are married so he calls and comes around so if the parents of the teen parents just help and support there children about the baby thats there or on the way then you wont miss out on your grandchilds life like my father did for 5 months so just be there for your teen children and help them in any way and dont try to take the babys dad out of the pic because the mom will leave and you may not see any of them for a while take it from someone whos been there before

Hi i'm 17 years old and have a premie baby born at 25 weeks.I'm not married to the baby my baby's daddy as yet because i'm still not ready to make that decision.I am living with him and he supports me all the way. But at times i get so angry at him for no reason at all and he takes it and dont say a word to me and i feel so bad because he does anything for me and i take it for granted. All i do is pray to god that he doesn't leave me.When i ask him how i'm treating him he would say that he understands what i' going through.And hearing that my baby won't be out until Late january or Feburary it hurts me even more.I'm also trying to get into school so i could finish up and get my diploma. I actually started to watch your program on the 7th of november, its really interesting. cindy

Dr. Keith,

My name is Michele, I am 18 years old. I have 10 month old fraternal twin daughters. I found out I was pregnant when I was 16 years old, I was on birth control. I have been with their father for 3 and a half years. We fully support our daughters on our own. I am still in highschool, a senior and I work. My boyfriend works too.

I disagree with Lynn up there, "A 16 year old is a 16 year old". Excuse me, but that 16 year old has to be mature because that 16 year old KNEW what she did, KNEW what could happen.. and what did she do? She did it anyways.

I agree with Kareese. Just because you get pregnant when youre young doesn't mean you can't live your life. Sure, you can't have the freedom like every other teenager but it's more than worth it.

I just think that maybe you who are offended with teen pregnancy, talk to your kids more. Be more open, hell.. BUY THE PROTECTION! If you're the teen mom, buck up to your responsibilities. You know what you did, you knew what the results could be. YOU are a mom, period. That child or children should be number one, not going out with your friends or having a fun time.

Thank you,
Michele

Hi Dr. Keith,

I found your show of teen sex interesting. I became a parent at the age of 18. My son now is 17 years old and I am amazed when I see him. Teen sex, I believe can be an issue that is started in home life. I had a nice up bringing and did not want or need. I was tought a modest lifestyle but yet I still did have sex and became pregnant. Parents, in my opinion really need to be involved in kids. I have brought up my kids to want to be at home and to want there friends to come here. I have had several of my kids friends who do not have that great of a home for whatever reason stay with us. I would jokling call them my foster kids. I geuss what I want to get across is that dont have sex until you are married. It is not easy and it all does not really work out how the girl in the audience did. I also was very lucky to have a supportive family but. Kids need to be kids and not adults. My 15 year old daughter is made fun of for being a virgin but she advocates how proud of herself she is and she was taught through good communication at home how to maintain her morals at whatver need it be because in the end she will be blessed. Jenny

I agree with Brooke, because i was also on that show. I was the the one in the interracial relationship and you cant know my whole life story in just 15 minutes so you cant sit up here and talk this junk if you dont know us.

I watched your show with nanny 911 on nov.7. she had a lot of good advice that I already use, but what do you do when you have a 9yr. handicapp child who does not speak. when he acts out a reward system does not work.

I was 15 when I was pregnant with my first son. I was 16 when I gave birth. I went to work shortly after I gave birth. Due to the fact that his father would not get a job and help support our new little miracle.I took full resposibilty for my child. I gave up all my friends and devoted all my time to my baby. He is now 8 years old and a very wise child far beyond his years. I may not have the education that everyone thinks you need to have, but he and his baby brother have everything they need as well as alot of what they want. He is a very disiplined child as well. I wish I could have finished High School and go on to college, but life happened, and I must say, I honestly don't regret it. The only thing I can say I actually regret is the fact that my husband now is not my oldest son's father. My ex is long gone out of our lives and thank God for that. I was young and I made mistakes, but who has not? Nobody is perfect! I couldn't imagine life had I not had him at such a young age. Please don't judge me or others like me, for having children so young, afterall we all make mistakes.. Are you perfect?!God Bless the Mother who loves and cares tenderly her child, no matter her age or race. Thank you! I could go on and on, but I should stop now. Thank You

hi my name is brooke and i was one of those teen moms on that show that morning the 17 year old and i dont know how you guys can talk so much stuff you dont have no idea what you are talking about i stood up for my mom the whole way i might not have a education but i can still take care of my baby my mom helps me out ok so if you people wanna make comments about it then find out more facts first thank you brooke.....

Dr Keith,
I enjoy your shows for the most part but the one on teen moms really upset me. When my now 27-year-old daughter was 15, she got pregnant. We were beside ourselves....this didn't happen to nice families! She gave birth at 16 to a healthy little girl. Three days later my daughter kissed the baby goodbye & we went home to try to put our lives back together. She could not forget her little girl & begged me to help bring her home. My husband & I laid down some very strict ground rules.....she had to finish high school(she was a junior), had to remain in her actitives, had to pursue college,& work parttime to help with expenses. My husband & I both worked full-time & we had a child in college, so this was truly a hardship, but together , as a family , we did it. And we had no help from the father or his family. We belived that the best favor we could do for our granddaughter was to finish raising our daughter. It really bothered me when people would say" she has to grow up now that she's a mom." No a 16-year-old is a 16-year-old! And I would not have applauded my teen getting engaged. Those mothers just wanted the girls to be someone elses's problem. How can 17 & 18-year-olds think about marriage? And especially without jobs or educations? Today my daughter is married to her little girl's dad & they have an 18-month-old. This happened when Makayla was 5. Do I believe it would have worked when the baby was born? No, they would most likely not be together now with God knows how many children & no hope for a solid future. Those teens & moms need a wake up call.

Dear Dr. Keith,
I just could not believe your show on teenage moms. Especially the story of the Mom who's 2 teenage daughter's have become teenage mom's. This story upset me to the point that I have been losing sleep over the way the mother, a recovering crystal meth addict was treated. Do you realize that it is nothing short of a miracle that this woman was able to get off meth? Do you not realize that the relapse rate is over 65%? You and her daughters made her feel like she had done too little, too late. You all seemed to focus on was punishing her and blaming her for the actions of her daughters. Even though now she appears to be setting some boundaries and her children are trying to rebel, you never once congratulated her on her return to the world as a parent and grandparent. Her daughter whined about how her mother wasn't there for her when she needed her. She still needs her, this child is in no way a grown up. And in my opinion her ungrateful attitude might be enough to push her mother right back to abusing drugs to numb the pain her child is constantly dishing out. I never post anything like this, since I'm sure no one reads or takes these comments seriously but, I have really lost sleep thinking about this mother, who despite her past, is trying to make things right. I can't believe she got no support from you. You seemed only sympathetic to the daughter's plight. Several times I teared up because of the lack of respect and the lack of encouragement this mother was shown by her daughter and by you. I am also a recovering meth addict, I lost almost 5 years of my life, of my time with my daughters to the addiction of methamphetamine. I can not get those precious times with my kids back and for you or them to say that I no longer should be allowed to set boundaries and try to get them to make better choices only dooms them to repeat my past mistakes. Please, I beg you say something on your show that tells people recovering from addiction that the fight they are fighting to get clean means something. That their everyday struggle means something. And that when their ready, they should do everything they can to keep this from happening to their own kids, family, friends and even total strangers. I hope that next time you have a recovering addict on your show, you recongnize them for the unbelievable obstacle they chose to overcome and not punish them further for the mistake that they made by becoming addicted.
Thank you,
Mindy
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

I am a teenage mom I got pregnant when I was 13 and had her at 14. she is 3yrs old nearly 4 and there is nothing easy about being a parent at any age. My mother always said we accept this child as a blessing or a curse and we chose blessing her daddy and I are married because we want to be and we've been to gether for 5 yrs. just because you get pregnant doesn't mean your life is over but your teenage life is over It's very scary getting pregnant young but you can still live and enjoy life as a teenage mom people just need to veiw it as a mistake that you are probaly not proud of and instead of judging just lend a helping hand. That's all we need. Thankyou

I was very dissappointed in the way you presented the final statement when you said the chidren of unwed mothers were ultimatel the responsibiity of society. My reasoning is simple. Why should society in essence taxpayers be responsible for the birth and the raising of unwed moms babies when other choices can be made for the benefit of the children. My daughter gave birth to a baby that she placed for adoption in an open adoption arrangement. She is very proud of her decision to do this. She will be allowed to see her onn a regular basis until the baby is 18. I believe the mothers should recieve counseling regarding all options. My dauther had to suffer a great deal of gujilt and condemnation regarding her decision. It is really unfair that the option of adoption is not being encourage or supported by society. My daughter also donated milk to a milk bank for a year after her daughter was born.She is truly a miraculus young woman who I feel did a very brave and courageous thing. I wished that there was some someway that she could appear on your show so that maybe she might be able to be an inspiration to another teen mom who might want to do the same thing but is not recieving any support regarding this type of decision.

I was very disappointed with your show regarding the mother with 3 teenage daughters that also got pregnant at an early age. You seemed to pick on the mother only but what about the young lady who seems to think that having a baby gives her the right to do what she wants! Hello, having a baby does not make you a parent nor does it magically make you a mature adult. That young lady is not mature enough to be taking care of herself and I'm sure she is not financially responsable for herself and her child right now. Her mother has made mistakes in her life which she has come forth and admitted and this has effected her children of course but she IS qualified to give advice thus assisting in the best way she can. Simply because she went thru it. I'm not saying all of her advice would necessarily be good but keeping her boyfriend from staying the night under her roof is not a bad thing what so ever. Trying to keep her in school does not sound bad either. As we know the average american earns $200,000 less in their lifetime without a Highshcool diploma. Her mother has been thru what she is going thru now, I don't see how a mother who has never experienced an early pregnancy could neccessarily have "better" advice. If her mother is not sober that obviously needs to be addressed but you focused on this ONLY and from what I heard her mother is trying to enforce some very good things for her daughter, so not being sober did not seem to be as true as your focus of it portrayed. I normally like watching your show, but you over talked the mother and also let the young lady do the same. The mother was not allowed to state anything from start to finish. You have to give respect to get it and I did not see that being taught here either. Respect someone enough to at least let them finish talking. What happened here? Thanks for having this blog to respond to.

I think that Dr. Keith is being very understanding, compassionate and *realistic* with these teen mothers and their mothers. tTis pattern of teen pregnancy is one of a "cycle" that seems to perpetuate itself. He cannot change anyone on his shows- that is just not realistic: No one person can change anyone else- we can only change ourselves. I am so very grateful that I had made the difficult, but intelligent, decision to have given my child up for adoption at age 19 when i had gotten pregnant by my abusive boyfriend. However, I would never blame anyone else but me for getting pregnant: whoever gets pregnant is the one who is responsible.

i watched your show today and was not at all surprised that the show was on teen mothers.I am a teen mother myself.I know first hand that it does not matter how you were raised.you had a bad childhood so what.you wanted to be sexually active an this is what you get.unlike most teen moms i got married befor i had my kids.if you don't want to have a baby then don't have sex.i made sure i had a stable home befor i made my kids.i got married at 16 and had both of my kids befor i was 19. so i don't want to hear oh i had a bad life because everyone has there problems. well i had said all that i can. time to play with my kids.
19-mommy of 2 boys

Good Afternoon:

OMG I just saw your show on teen parents. I thought you were way too nice. Especially to the mother with 3 teen parent children. Then you had the interracial couple on with her mom, HELLO he is 19 and she is 18 and neither of them have a high school degree or a drivers license let's get real, I am so upset you didn't give them the hard love they need. Who will be paying for that child , I will. I have to tell you I am a single mother of 2 teenagers , 15 and 17 and let me tell you if my kids were in that kind of situation I would so want a therapist to be more strict and direct than you were. I am so upset, disappointed in what wasn't said or done on your show today and most of the time I love watching your show . I would love a chance to confront these teens or yourself on what should have been said but wasn't said. I am not trying to act above these people but I have been there and there is more to this than they know.

Thankyou, Darlene

Dr. Ablow,

I watched your show today about teen pregnancy. I thought I would let you know about a new community service outreach being planned for girls in Columbia, South Carolina. Beginning in November, I am coordinating a Teen Mom Care group sponsored by my church, Christian Life, Columbia, SC. We are beginning a program we are calling Tutoring for Teen Moms. We will be offering free tutoring and study time each week for two hours, child care will be provided free of charge to the teen moms during the tutoring and study time. We hope to support and encourage pregnant teens and teen mothers to pursue their education and maintain vision and hope for their future. Your comments at the end of the show are right on and echo the heart of this outreach.

Sincerely, Kim
Columbia, SC

Today on the teen pregnancy show Dr.Keith completely destroyed this poor mother making it sound like she was an alcoholic. He had no right to make the knocked up daughter seem like a saint and the mom like the problem. Yes the mom did have a drug problem but she is clearly more then capable of tell her daughter what to do. I would rather have a mother in my life that helps me stay in school and stay out of trouble then not at all

i watched your show today 10/27/06, and i was very disappointed in the young girl who blamed her mother for her having gotten pregnant. that is the lamest excuse i've ever heard my mother left us, and went about her own business for awhile and also came back to raise us the best she can. so there are questions on why. but people deal w/things alot different. my mother was a teenmother and forced to give up her, my older siblings but all of that is in the past we dealt w/that and moved on w/no help from anyone.so in my opinion that girl sure she is 15 or 16 but in the long run blaming somone for your sleeping around is stupid ahe should of looked at her mother as an example like i did. i knew what she did but i don't hold it against her, i used it to my advantage as to not follow her footsteps.so that girl needs to grow up forget about the past and move on to support her mother in her recovery. there are 8 of us in my family and 1 mother and father and they don't have time to show special attention to all of us equally we all know that they love us just the same. that girl would not be here if it wasn't for her mother, if anything, she needs to earn the respect of her mother to be called her daughter. she does not know what her mother went thru in life, and if she did would she understand

I got pregnant at age 15 and we had a wedding three months later an actuel wedding at that point I was 16 and my husband was19.We very quickly got an apartment we never lived with family my husband got a job the second he found out I was pregnant and we now have a 2yr old and almost 4yr old to girls and are going on 5yrs of marriage I have never worked except helping out of the house for my parents company taking phone calls my husband 100% supports and we are talking anout having a third baby in the next year we have always lived in nice places with nice things and hardly ever get help from family without paying them back and also are inlove. Please note that teen pregnancy does not have to be so terrible you just cant exspect to act like a kid we never leave our kids with anyone except our anniversary for 1 night. All girls and boys can do this and I would love to help teens understand how some day because it seems like to many parents scare there kids from what they could do.

Amanda Moskal

I was a teen mom my self, 15 pregnant and I will say that my parents were the best for dealing with this type of situation. They were upset but stated that we would work it out. My boyfriend at the time joined the marine corps and we had a baby boy. My parents had realized that we had a child and no longer had the NO SLEEPING together or under the same roof rule. We had our son and at 5 weeks old he past away from SIDS. This only brought my boyfriend and I together. We soon would get married where my parents signed cause I was only 16 years old. I then would move to Haiwii several hundred miles away from my parents with my husband. We then had a baby boy in 01 and girl in 03 now relocated in NC. I will say that since my parents did not fight us that they gave us a bigger chance. We have been married since 2000 and I figure that since we have been through the worse, a death of a child we can fight anything life brings to us.

I only caught several moments of this episode, and I'd never seen the show before. It caught my attention because of the young girl. I would have watched it all had it not been that I was doing Laundry.

I didn't catch her name so as soon as I was finished with Laundry I typed 'Dr. Keith' in a search engine in hopes to find some information about the entire episode and the girls name.

Last september, At 15 years old I found out I was pregnant. I carried to term and had the baby, Still do =)

I saw something amazing from your show today and hope to catch more of it soon. Good job, Keep it real.

Hello,
I don't know what these teen girls are thinking, the first mom and daughter where the daughter doesn't look at her mom as mom just said that she can't go out with her friends, without having to bring her son. Okay she had the baby it is her responsibility to take care of her son. I was a teen mom, I had my daughter at 16 years old and I never left my daughter with my mom until I was 19 years old. And I only did it once every 3 months. She had the baby and now needs to act like an adult. They need a head check on what being a mother means. Sorry but it was bothering me completely that she said that.

I am so tired of hearing about teen pregnancy! It makes me sick! The people you just had on your show are so unprepared and obviously ignorant. I am in fear that this kind of stupidity will continue to plague the human race. What is wrong with these teens? They take no responsibility for their actions. Parents of these children fail at being good role models or instilling any sort of maturity. I come from a single parent household and am infuriated at the amount of women/girls that think that just because they can love a creature means they deserve to bring it into the world. Do any of these people understand or even grasp reality? NO! It's frankly disgusting. The people who should be procreating aren't out of intelligence, and unfortunately children are born into this world all to often born to incompetent people unfit to raise a child. America disgusts me with its plethera of stupidity. Why don't you tell these people to grow up, take responsibility and wear a condom or get free birthcontroll that is more than available? This whole sujbect is just dissapointing. People riot about abortion, why aren't they screaming about increasingly unfit parents? Education is so easily accessable and still there are people I come accross that i would mistake as never having touched a book or entered a class room in their life. No one is incapable of learning, it is a choice! America is making the wrong choice and it will continue to degredate this planet until people smarten up. This is only part of what i have to say. I am just up in arms about this. I litterally could loose my mind with all the irresponsiblity and stupidity I seem to be drowning in. I am so dissapointed.

21-Student
Molly