GainesvilleMoms.com

Apparently Sarah Palins' 17 year old daughter is pregnant. How do you think this will effect the campaign and Sarah's image?


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On the one hand, it's awesome to see a parent stand behind their child. On the other hand, I think that people are going to think that she can't possibly run the country if she can't keep her child from getting pregnant. I myself married my high school sweetheart and had plenty of "scares" prior to our marriage. So, I know all too well that no matter how good an upbringing you have, your parents can't keep you from making "mistakes".

At this point I think that if we are all smart, we will all take in to consideration the fact that the VP's in this case are more likely than former VP's to become Presidents by default. Let's face it, McCane is certainly no spring chicken and has already had bouts with cancer. Obama is our first possible president of color and very well may have a bigger target than normal on his head. It is extremely possible that the VP's will be called upon to lead us.

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Originally posted by Casmly:
At this point I think that if we are all smart, we will all take in to consideration the fact that the VP's in this case are more likely than former VP's to become Presidents by default. Let's face it, McCane is certainly no spring chicken and has already had bouts with cancer. Obama is our first possible president of color and very well may have a bigger target than normal on his head. It is extremely possible that the VP's will be called upon to lead us.

I agree with you on this one. We certainly may have a VP that becomes the Commander-in-Chief.

As far as the daughter being pg...I agree with you there too. We cannot control what our children will do all the time...no matter how great of a parent we are. Things happen and its good to know she stands by her pro-life motto even when its close to home. I also like that she doesn't act like it is 'such a horrible big ordeal'. It happened and they are taking the responsible steps as a family, no place for condemnation or shame.

Karen

At this point I do not know what to think about this entire ticket. However, I do know that I I continue to be disappointed in the people that are supposed to be "leaders". As a mother, this will make it it difficult for me to admire her ability to parent. While a baby is always a gift, it seems somthing must have failed here.

P.S I did not mean to offend anyone when I made the statement that "something must have failed here". I only said that as most would agree that a 17 year old having a baby is not an ideal situation. It does not mean that it cannot work out. As a child, my best friend's mother was 17 when she had her her. While I am sure it was very hard. They were a WONDERFUL family!

I agree with LEW...at this point, to me-my own opinon I think this is saying "don't vote for us cuz our family is not in accord to family standards" ...if most "old fashion" folks are looking at that.

Yes I know it happens-alot with young people. Mistake or not, it makes it look like she has no control of her children and their social life. She's to busy in the office to know what her kids are doing. How is she going to concentrate on her work if she has "trouble" kids in the house.

right now-poor choice of a VP.

I think is a good thing to see the people the lead us are not perfect. Sometimes I get so tired of seeing politicians making themselves look picture perfect, what we want to see and when the flaws are shown, they first deny and lie, then apologize to the public.
No one is perfect, things happen, and to see Palin still strong enough to to gain a VP nomination while being a mother shows me she is a woman strong enough to be where she is.
I am very into my children, I love and support them. Even though I am working full time, taking college classes and raising them on my own. I also am my daughter's girl scout leader and have a position in my son's cub scout pack. If, as they become teenagers, they make mistakes like Palin's daughter, I would not think of myself as not knowing how to raise or take care of my kids. We all do the best we can and hope that enough of our teachings sink into our kids' heads and morals.
We only have a part of the story of her life. (At least I do, I haven't been able to fully research her yet) If a woman is a strong woman, I believe she can do it.
I think she is a good pic for VP.

As a "good" kid in high school with grades of "A" and many extracurricular activities, I drank, drove drunk, used THC, etc. Many "good" kids make stupid choices for different reasons. My family was very close and my parents didn't drink, etc. We went to church every Sunday and were very involved in the parish. Almost all of my friends were honors students and I used to volunteer with my mother as she collected donations for the kidney assoc, heart association and other groups. My parents had NO CLUE as to what I was up to; sadly, I was very sneaky and very good at being sneaky.

With that said, the Palin pregnancy shows that the family is close and truly follows their pro-life beliefs. Had the prenancy ended in an abortion (which it could easily have), nobody would know. I am very proud of the Palin family for making the tough decision and taking on public opinion.

As Mr. Obama said with regard to his daughters becoming pregnant young, he would "not want to burden them" with a baby. The consequence to premarital sex is often pregnancy; I am happy a child does not have to die this time.

I am not foolish enough to believe that my "good" daughter who does not yet date (14, an honors student, an athlete, a community volunteer, etc) couldn't possibly feel she is "in love" at 17 and sadly make a poor choice. It simply shows that sometimes "good" kids make bad, HUMAN choices. It's when there is a PATTERN of bad, reckless behavior that you have to wonder "where are the parents?" Palin's daughter appears to fall under the "good kid made a stupid choice" category. Thank God the family (and the daughter) are now making the best choice....

Maybe this just goes to show you that there's nt much for young people to do in Alaska.

Sorry. My thoughts on the matter had already been shared so I tried to be funny. It may have only worked on myself cause I laughed (I'm from Mayo so I know what bored teens do).

As a side note: I support his choice for VP. I am thrilled at the thought of a woman in the White House and she has more experience than Obama himself since she has to run the budget, education, and security of an entire state.

You may think it's funny...but my sister lives there and it's true...there isn't much for them to do there. Now, I'm sure Palin's family lives in a larger city than my sister does, but I know there is a lot of crime and a lot of drunkiness depending on where you are located there because of the lack of anything to do.

This makes me believe, more than ever, that I need to keep my kids busy ! I think it also speaks to the importance of teens being educated about sex. If they practice safe sex, they can probably escape from the experimental years unscathed. If not, it leads to years of struggle and plans derailed. As a teen, it never would have occurred to me to have unprotected sex. My mother was very open and honest about the dangers. Perhaps, Sarah is only guilty of not providing education, or an open door that her daughter felt comfortable entering for a frank discussion?

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Originally posted by LEW:
Perhaps, Sarah is only guilty of not providing education, or an open door that her daughter felt comfortable entering for a frank discussion?

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Or perhaps Sarah's daughter's a NORMAL teen who make a bad choice. I'm quite sure all of our children do things we tell them not to do, regardless of age or subject matter. Just imagine how many OTHER teens have been and will be preganant, but we never hear about them due to abortion.

I do not support sex education in the schools, yet I spend much time talking with my children. They first learned about sex at age 5 (age-appropriate lessons). Our 8-yr-old son (as is the case w/ our teen daughter) now knows EVERYTHING there is to know. Included in that is what GOD wants for him, the double standard of sex, the reality of abortion, what rape is, (etc) and that a decision to have sex will always boil down to what HE decides because his parents can't be with him all the time.

Please don't assume Palin or any parent of a pregnant teen didn't speak with her. Those of us who favor abstinance perhaps do even MORE communicating with our children because we don't rely on government (schools) to do our jobs for us. Morals and values cannot be taught in the schools and a lesson on sex WITHOUT those lowers us and our children to the status of animals. And it makes things dangerous for our kids.

Sex for teens in not only inappropriate and stupid,it's dangerous. Tossing condoms at kids who are too immature physically and emotionally to see the bigger picture is no different than telling kids not to drink alcohol, but providing them the fake ID's to do so.

I wish all children could say their parents are able to provide them with sex education. Sadly, many teens have parents who are mentally, emotionally, or physically absent. Some even have parents that sexually abuse them. I feel that a policy requiring teens get all of their education in the home is one formulated by people who have only had exposure to an idealistic family situation such as ours. I know that in many homes across America, there are children w/o parents to offer them the love and support we have had, and offer our children. I do not feel we can, or should forget about them.

"Something must have failed"...

I'm not offended, but I will say that I really hate that people automatically assume that something's failed. Normal people let their 17 year old's out of the house for dates, school functions, to go to the mall etc. etc. There is no way to keep tabs on exactly what your children are doing at all times. The best you can do is educate them and hope that they take the information you've given them and use it appropriately. For that matter, we don't know whether the daughter used protection or not. Maybe she did everything she was taught to do and still got pregnant.

If anyone is to blame in this scenario, I don't think it's Palin. We need to start holding 17 year olds responsible for their own actions, legally an adult or not.