If there was ever a sentence that made me want to throw up my hands and scream "what is the world coming to!?" this is it. An 11-year-old girl has reportedly given birth in a hospital in Colombia. Eleven!
I was still playing with LEGOs at 11, and here this kid is a mother. Get that? Not just an 11-year-old having sex, but an 11-year-old who had a living, breathing human being cut out of her uterus by doctors performing a C-section.
O. M. G. This is me, hyperventilating. So I'm going to go ahead and talk myself -- and you -- off the ledge.
Because I really can't deal with the thought of my beautiful, smart, funny 6-year-old being a mother anytime in the next decade (or two), I'm going to put this story in context for everyone who will be freaking out about this on the interwebs for the next week or so.
This is not normal. At least not here in the United States. Yes, the age that girls are hitting puberty, and thus able to become pregnant, is dropping. But the average age for first intercourse for American girls is 17.4. For boys, it's still a fairly respectable 16.9. Only a quarter of teenagers report having had sex by age 15.
In Colombia, where this girl gave birth, the numbers are different. It's sad and heartbreaking. But it's also a different culture. This girl in particular is a member of the Wayuu tribe, an indigenous group that lives apart from much of Colombian society. Their way of life is not something you expect to see mirrored in an average American household, so grouping your kids in with her is unrealistic and unfair.
Our daughters -- and our sons, ahem -- have us. I don't mean to sound culturally insensitive, but I dare say we are better role models, or at least place more value on the sanctity of childhood here in America.
Also good to note? The average age of a first-time mother in the United States is now around 25 years old. There are some extremely young kids who get pregnant, tragically, but it's a blip on the radar screen.
And now for the really super, duper good news. A gazillion researchers have found there's a direct correlation between kids having a good, honest, open relationship with their parents and the age of first intercourse. If kids feel they can trust you, they're likely to put it off.
In other words: by being freaked out by this 11-year-old new mother and wanting to do something about it? You're already on the right track to making sure it's not your kid freaking us out next.
When do you plan to start having these talks with your kids?
Image via janineomg/Flickr
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Comments 301
How do you know this girl wasn't raped? You are just assuming that she voluntarily had sex when there are no facts pointing to that. Having sex at a young age is a cultural difference... and it's not like kids in America don't get pregnant at 14-16 (Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant... hellooo?!) Even in the U.S. it used to be commonplace to get married young, and women would be considered "spinsters" at the age of 20. Just because you think something is "wrong" doesn't mean the rest of the world does. Look up different "shocking" cultural differences from around the world and the U.S. WE do things are considered grotesque to other parts of the world as well. As a fellow journalist I can't even believe this article got published on here. I guess it's called an opinion for a reason....
* Women would be considered spinsters at the age of 20 if they hadn't gotten married and had a child by then.
In other news--we have cases DAILY in America or coaches, dentists, doctors teachers, fathers, uncles nephews grand dads, grand moms, moms, RAPING their kids and neighbors here in the US and killing the children. DAILY. For today's dose, just read the article about the gymnast coach who was forcing himself on 11 year olds in the good ol' USA while the kids' parents doled out tons of money to his club...we have no room to talk--not on any level at any time--kids are predated upon the world over--and wasn't it an American group of soldiers who killed a 5 year old and her family and raped the 14 year old before setting her on fire? Yes--I can see our halo from here....NOT.