Teenage Pregnancy

Teenage Pregnancy

          Hello, this is IGL and this post is about teenage pregnancy. The world is full of teenage girls who have become moms unexpectedly. In the past decade, the rate of teenage pregnancy has risen drastically. Sometimes girls get pregnant on purpose, or they accidentally forget about protection. A baby comes with great responsibility and sometimes teenage parents don’t have that ability. A child might mess up grades, friendships, family and romantic relationships, careers, and future college chances. Adulthood is the perfect time for a child, because it comes with wisdom and responsibility. Not all teenage parents are irresponsible, but most do not know how to care for a baby. It is best for the adults to teach their children the best way.

          Girls have been involved in cases where they forget to put on a condom, or maybe are drunk or high. In other words, they don’t know what they’re doing. There are girls in this world that think they can be fitting parents for a baby at a young age, still in high school and not yet with a stable job. The ones that think they can do this and are confident and responsible enough don’t really know the difficulties of being a parent. Yes, I am thinking about the girls on Maury who claim they have the sufficient sources for a child. But when they do get one, they can’t take care of it.

          However, keep in mind: Never judge a teenage mother or father, no matter their race, gender, nationality, appearance, or age. You do not know the complete story of their lives. Even though in the two above paragraphs, it seems like teenage moms are not responsible, you do not know what really happened. True, there are girls that are naïve or strive to get a baby, but that may not be the case for everything. A teenager can get pregnant by many causes, some even gruesome, such as sexual abuse. Rid of all stereotypes that teenage moms are ‘sluts’ and ‘have sex every day’, because that may not be the case for every girl.

       The Candie’s Foundation is an organization that aims to educate teenagers about the dangers of becoming a teenage parent. They motivate students to think before they act and use protection. They send campaigns across schools to teach girls about the responsibility about having a child. But they do this uniquely. They use celebrities to expose parenthood and advocate against it to catch teenagers’ attention.

          A lot of girls are pressured into having sex. When this happens, usually a baby is accidentally formed. It could be forced, or they decide it in consolation for their partner. Sometimes, the boyfriend is peer pressured into having sex with his girlfriend, so both ways can happen. A girl or guy might not be ready to take such a huge step in a relationship, and irresponsibility comes with it. Sometimes, people peer pressure themselves because everyone else is doing it. However, not everyone else is doing it. They might boast about it, but in truth, they might not be sexually active. In fact, STDs can spread when people are not careful, like the HIV, which causes the deadly disease of AIDS.

          Preventing pregnancy is the best way to, well, prevent it. Abstinence is the number one choice, but everyone knows that doesn’t always work. Condoms are a common way for protection. It acts like a balloon, and wraps around the genitals of either partner. It prevents the sperm into reaching the womb, where fertilization takes place. Birth control pills are the second choice, for girls. The female takes a pill every day to delay the ovulation. If the female forgets to take it for one day, she can get pregnant a few days later.

          When a teenager gets pregnant, she panics. Fortunately, for U.S. citizens, the government formed a law called the Safe Haven Law. This allows babies to be legally dropped off at an adoption center, hospital, or other “drop-off area”. This only applies to parents that haven’t abused or neglected their child before. The parent and child are given the same bracelets, so if the mother wants to reclaim him or her, it’s possible. The Safe Haven Law can be a less stressing choice than to just leave the baby on the street, so some do take this choice. Just remember to think wisely.

          Finally, there is one way to deal with a baby. This choice is disputed whether it is moral or immoral, based on common sense, science, or religion. It is abortion. Abortion is when the mother, while pregnant, kills the baby. Some grabs it by the skull and pulls it out, or they take a pill. Abortion is a serious choice to make. For some girls, it might cause dysfunctions in having children later on in life.

          There are many ways to help. You could:

1. Tell someone about it
2. Donate to organizations such as Candie’s Foundation or the Brignoni Foundation (not mentioned here)
3. Take responsibility if you are a teenager pregnant. Choose to keep the baby, give it away as the Safe Haven Law, or abort it.
4. Do not give in to peer pressure
5. Adopt a child
6. Use protection at all times
7. Do not judge others

Be careful on future teen pregnancies!

Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Divorce

Divorce

            Hello, this is IGL and this post is about divorce. Divorce is when two parents decide to legally separate, and to be called exes. Divorce happens every day everywhere for many reasons. It could be financial issues, abuse, or alcoholism (see previous post for more about alcoholic parents). In other words, the parents don’t agree on certain things such as disputed actions, behavior, and seldom times looks.

Children involved in the parents’ relationship may feel torn apart between them. Heartache and depression may result upon an unwanted divorce between two parents. When two parents fight, they develop feelings of hate towards each other. After that, they file for divorce and sign the papers. But who will get custody of the offspring? That matter depends in court, and a parent may keep the child, and the other may receive visitation rights. Sometimes parents can’t see the child at all.

Divorce is becoming more common every day. Even back then, during the times of kings, they would divorce their wife just to marry new wives in hopes of creating a male child instead of female ones. It is understood today that the gender of a child is determined by the mother and father’s traits, not by the ability of the mother.

Children encounter when their parents are through a divorce. Often times, the child blames him or herself for the separation. It is usually unexpected for a divorce to happen, but they inflict the emotional pain on themselves. It is NEVER a child’s fault for a divorce. It was the parents’ decision and the child has nothing to do with it. If you are a child in a divorce, it may be hard to believe, but you are never the cause of a divorce.

Divorce is a heavy weight on a person’s shoulders. Divorce Care is one example of an organization that helps people through divorce. Divorce Care is a foundation aimed towards the adult through a divorce, showing what joys and happiness can be in life. Don’t let a divorce bring you down. Besides Divorce Care, the Children 1^st Foundation is aimed towards the children through a divorce, discussing the needed care for a child, such as child support, visitation arrangements, and custody.

There are many ways to help. You could:

1.     Tell someone if you are going through a divorce

2.    Tell a child that it is never their fault for their parents’ divorce

3.    If you have depression, seek therapeutic help

4.    Talk to your parents about their relationship issues.

Help the people going through divorce!

Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Alcoholic Parents

Alcoholic Parents

          Hello, this is IGL and this post is about alcoholic parents. Many families have children with adult parents that are addicted to drinking alcohol. This may cause many family issues and problems, and tear many relationships apart. Alcohol controls the mind and body. It changes people’s moods and instead fuel aggressiveness, causing dramatic mood swings, when people have too much. This is called being drunk. Even though it leads to such bad effects, the person has to have it because they’re addicted.

          Alcohol, leading to unwanted incidents, can bring harm and emotional pain to others. Parents may argue over something small and they can eventually stop cooperation in becoming fatherly or motherly. Drunken people can physically harm children through their aggressive and nonsensical actions. Persisting alcoholism can lead to divorce, tearing the child apart. Keep in mind, this is the alcohol’s doing, not the parent’s for the most part.

          Many times, children may blame themselves for the alcoholic doings. A parent’s alcoholism is never the child’s fault. Reasons such as money and business may drive a parent to wine or beer, but the child/children are never the cause of such actions. If you are someone just as I described above, it may be hard for you to believe me, but you should never take the blame for an alcoholic parent.

         The Center on Addiction and Family is a part of the Phoenix House organized for helping families with alcoholic issues and professional information to recover. They teach these dysfunctional families on health and positive influences and strength. To spread their cause, they write articles which can be easily read on their website.

          There are many ways to help. You could:

1.     Tell someone about alcoholism in families

2.    Write an article for the newspaper or post a flyer

3.    If you are a victim of alcoholic parents, tell someone and get professional, therapeutic help

4.    Tell yourself and others that it is not their fault for an alcoholic parent

5.    Donate to the Center on Addiction and Family organization

Make a change for alcoholic parents!

Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Stop Sexual Abuse

Stop Sexual Abuse!

       Hello, this is IGL and this post is about sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is the assault against a person unwillingly sexual, like rape. Most of the time, sexual abuse happens to girls. And most of the time, the rapists are familiar to the victim. Rapists also threaten their victim not to tell by causing fear.

          Sexual abuse cases are successful because of fear and embarrassment. The abuser threatens the victim not to tell by causing something to happen when the case is exploited. Embarrassment is when a person feels like when someone knows, they will have doubt in them. For example, if a teenage girl is raped and becomes pregnant, she would fear that her parents would be disappointed in her.

          Audrie Pott was a teenage girl that was sexually abused. She was at a party when she became drunk and fell unconscious. Three of her schoolmates decided to rape her and post inappropriate pictures on the internet. The next day, the pictures go viral and everybody in the school knows about it. A few days later, Audrie hung herself.

          Audrie’s family founded an organization, the Audrie Pott Foundation, after Audrie’s death. The foundation gives free scholarships to art and music, important and valuable aspects to Audrie’s life.

          The American Foundation For Healing is a foundation that helps children and adolescents that has had first hand experiences of sexual abuse. AFFH aids people in believing in themselves and staying physically and mentally healthy. 
          There are so many people in this world suffering. But there are ways for you to help. You could:

1. Spread the word and educate people around.
2. Start a petition to help victims of sexual abuse
3. Donate to organizations such as the Audrie Pott Foundation or the American Foundation for Healing.
4. If you have been sexually abused, remember to stay strong and move on with life. 
5. If you know someone that has been sexually abused, remind them that there are people out there that love them and can help them. 
6. If YOU are the abuser, stop. 

Help stop sexual abuse!

-Idea+Gift=Love IGL 

Obesity & Nutrition

Obesity & Nutrition

          Hello, this is IGL and this post is about obesity and nutrition. Eating excess calories causes you to become obese. In this century, obesity is one of the most morbid disorders of the world. Obesity also causes many other diseases you could get including diabetes and heart attacks. It also hurts their confidence and trust on their appearance.

          Symptoms for obesity include difficulty of exercising, a large body, being lazy, and difficulty of breathing, muscle pain, early puberty, and knock-knees. It is difficult to exercise because of easily becoming tiresome. This leads to lethargy, or laziness. When obese, the muscles are weakened, making it hard to move. The fat pressures the muscle so it is hard to function properly or strongly. Fat produces estrogen and testosterone (hormones). With excess hormones, you receive puberty earlier. Knock-knees are when the legs are straightened, the knees ouch at an awkward angle.

          Effects include cancer, heart disease, muscle difficulties, back pain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, breathing problems, strokes, organ diseases, and many more. Psychological problems include depression, stress, and low self-esteem. New studies show that pregnant and obese women have a higher chance of giving birth to a child with autism. ADHD is also more common in obese or overweight children.

          To have a better weight, exercise and eat healthier. Exercising is an important step to maintaining a better weight. Exercise daily like jogging or maybe jumping jacks. Exercising always helps. The next step is to eat healthier. The food pyramid consists of food groups: grains, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats & beans, milk products, and extras. Grains include bread, pasta, rice, cereal, and oats. Eat 6-11 servings a day. The vegetable group includes leafy greens, carrots, corn, and broccoli. Eat about 3-5 servings a day. The fruits include nectars, citruses, berries, melons, apples, and bananas. Eat 2-4 servings a day. The oils include castor oil, sesame oil, and nuts. Eat about a handful of nuts a day. The oils are usually included in vegetable servings. The meats & beans group include seafood, chicken, beans, and eggs. Eat about 2-3 servings a day. The milk products include yogurt, cheese, and milk. Eat about 2-3 servings a day. Extras are the unhealthy foods including ice cream, lollipops, butter, chips, and cake. Use the extras sparingly.

          Many countries in the world have a high number of people that are obese. According to studies in 2012, the country with the highest number of people obese is the United States. The US’s percentage of obese people is 33.8% of the population. Mexico is next (30%) and New Zealand after (26.5%). Since 2010, the percentage of child obesity in the US has increased a great amount. Since 1980, people from ages 6-11 have increased from 7% to 18%. Teenagers have increased from 5% to 18%.

          September is the National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. The yellow ribbon stands for obesity. Make sure you wear the yellow ribbon in September.

          There are many ways to help. You could:

1.     Spread the word

2.    Wear the yellow ribbon in September

3.    Bond with children or adults that are obese

4.    Make your own body healthier.

Help stop world obesity!

-Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Stop Eating disorders!

Stop Eating Disorders

          Hello, this is IGL and our new project is eating disorders. Eating disorders are when someone abstains from food to make their body thinner. Sometimes people purge and skip meals. Most of the time people with eating disorders are young adults or teenagers.

          Eating disorders could affect a lot of people. Sometimes when someone is bullied, they are called fat and overweight. Because of that, the person purges themselves to look better. Or it could be because someone is just a “queen bee” and keeps their eating disorder as something to look better in their revealing clothing. Or maybe it’s because their friends are all skinny and inspire that person to contain an eating disorder. Either way, it’s not a good thing.

          Another BIG reason why most people have eating disorders is because of the media. Yes, the media. The media nowadays include super skinny models, movie stars, ettica. In other words size 1 ½ dresses and outfits. Still, there are some healthy and normal-weighted people in TV shows and celebrities that go against bulimia, but most people are still super thin. Our member, Kristine, one day was watching TV shows on her computer. Then, when she came across a clip from the Disney Channel TV show “So Random” (the individual show, not the one in Sonny with a Chance) she was super shocked of what she saw. It was the episode when the male model came to his girlfriend’s house. They were talking about how the male model ate only one full meal a week, which is bad. And the model said that his agent told him that if he wanted to get the jobs (being famous) he couldn't eat ANY carbs. This is so outraging! Now they were supporting eating disorders on children’s shows!

          Even if you skip breakfast so you could look like Ali Lohan, that’s still considered an eating disorder. If you have a minor eating disorder, consider visiting a therapist to get over it. But if it is a hardcore, serious eating disorder (like going without food for weeks or purging) go to a treatment facility if you can't overcome it when you try.


          NEDA is an organization that helps young girls going through eating disorders. NEDA is a non profit organization that reaches out to people with their self-esteem issues. To help, you can plan a NEDA walk to raise money and spread awareness to eating disorders. If you don't want to plan a walk, then just donate! NEDA has a program in which you can donate a car so they can auction it off. Besides, they will take care of all expenses for sending the car over.

          No matter what happened in the past, accept who you are. How you look like on the outside doesn't really matter to how you are in the inside. There are ways to discourage eating disorders .You could:

1.     If you have an eating disorder yourself, stop it. Don't let how your image looks like affect you. If it’s a minor case, try seeing a therapist or a doctor. If it’s serious, consider going to a treatment facility

2.    If you know someone who has an eating disorder, tell them to get some help.

3.    Spread the word. Write a letter to the newspaper, tell someone about it, or just encourage people to stop eating disorders.

4.    If you or someone you know with an eating disorder is afraid of getting overweight or obese, skipping meals is not the answer. Food has healthy nutrition that helps you, not goes against you. However, if you don't want to get too overweight, avoid fatty food like hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, or fried chicken.

5. Support NEDA and maybe donate to the organization. 
    (  http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org  )

So you see, eating disorders affect so many people in the world every day. Help stop eating disorders and make the world a healthier place.

-Idea+Gift=Love

Stop bullying

Stop Bullying!

          Hello, this is IGL. Our project is a very important message to EVERYONE. This project is bullying, something nobody wants to become a victim of. Bullying includes put-downs, teasing, vandalism, gossip, rumors, cyberbullying, racism, sexual harassment, Physical abuse, threats, and exclusion. This is a negative thing that everyone can stop.

          Once upon a time, there was a middle school in the California Bay Area. That middle school was an ordinary middle school. They had the loners, the bullies (populars), the nerds, the Goths, the genetically disordered, and the jocks. We’re pretty sure there weren’t any plastics since it’s a middle school because that would just be weird.

          In that middle school, there was a girl we will just call “A”. A was bullied by many people but she had some friends. They were good friends, but she also had some bad friends. The bad friends (aka the bullies) were backstabbing bullies and she never had a clue about it. They did many horrible things to her. They used a form of bullying called cyberbulling, where they use technology to hurt someone’s feelings. They sent texts to everyone and convinced them that A was a bad person. They also posed as A and sent people rude texts. One person, named “B” was a bad friend. B was a bully, and had a lot of bully friends. One of B’s bully friends schemed a plan for B to make a recording of saying many horrible things about A. B’s friend sent that video to everyone by e-mail, and sadly, to A too. A was hurt, and she never got over it.

          Another time was when IGL witnessed this act. A was walking over to the trash can, and some girls were also having lunch there. The moment A walked over, the leader of the group of girls threw some food at A. The food was solid and hard, and A got hurt, both emotionally and physically. This is called Physical Abuse. The people also called A ugly, stupid, annoying, and disgusting. They excluded her away from their group whenever A walked over, trying to make some friends. This is Put-Downs, teasing, and exclusion. They spread rumors and gossiped of how she did badly on a test, and things like who she went to the dance with then how her date ditched her there. This is called rumors and gossip. They threatened A of telling people she liked bad things about her if she didn’t do something they wanted A to do for them. This is called threat and vandalism. That is how A lived.

          There is another time in a different school of the same area. There was a boy and a girl. The girl shall be called “C” and the boy shall be called “D”. C was always a happy go lucky girl, until D one day decided to upset her with his bullying. C wanted to play a game with D and his friends at recess. But D decided to play a cruel game. He said that girls couldn’t play sports because they were too weak and sports were only for boys and men. This hurt C very much. Whenever it was PE, C was excluded whenever she was in D’s team to play a sport. This carried on for years. This is called Sexual Harassment.  Sexual Harassment could also be related to sexual innuendos.

          It was a year later in fifth grade when D was in C’s class—again. In class, one day, an argument rose from a table. A girl was arguing with D about something, and then suddenly D shouted out about him being Australian, and said how Asians were stupid and always looked like “this” *puts his two fingers to the edges of his eyes, raised them up to form chinky eyes*. This shocked the teacher and half the class since half the students were Asian. This is called Racism.

          All these were schools that members of IGL went to. Sadly, this is the problem with the world. And one result of bullying could end up terribly wrong. It is called self harming.

          Self harming is when a person hurts themselves to relieve pain. Self harming is bad! B-A-D bad! And usually, this happens when someone is bullied too much. Self harming could be in different forms like an eating disorder. If you know someone who is self harming themselves, tell someone immediately!

          Once upon a time, in the California Bay Area, there was a high school. Once again, they have the bullies and the bullied. A teenage girl was bullied, so bullied that she decided to self harm herself. She was bullied so much, that she tried so many different ways to kill herself. One day, she was rushed to the hospital, and died in early morning. That is why bullying is BAD.

          Even though it seems that this could be difficult to accomplish, YOU could stop bullying. There are many ways to stop bullying. You could:

1. Stand up for someone. Standing up is when you confront a bully and tell them to stop bullying the victim.
2. Tell an adult. You could tell a trusted grown-up when bullying is present
3. Don’t bully anyone yourself. Bullying could cause a lot of pain.
4. Spread the idea to stop bullying yourself.

As you can see, if you do these steps, you could stop bullying!

-Idea+Gift=love IGL