LilSugar

Do You Talk to Your Kids About Teenage Pregnancy?

LilSugar — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 08:00:23 -0700

Audiences fell in love with Juno, pact or no pact, the girls of Gloucester High School made national headlines and Jamie Lynn Spears left her Nickelodeon stage to set up a nursery - it's been a big year for teenage pregnancy. And, perhaps the finale of it all is the recent announcement that Bristol Palin is expecting. Did you, or would you, use any of these instances to initiate a conversation with your kids about sex or teenage pregnancy?Source and Source

Who's the Daddy?

babysugar — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 07:00:01 -0800

Juno this hot daddy from way back when? His sister, Mallory, I mean Justine was also an 80's sitcom star. Can you guess his name?

Lil Big Screen: Juno Wins an Award in My Book

babysugar — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:00:32 -0800

I finally went to see the Golden Globe nominated movie Juno this weekend. Before entering the theater, I knew three things; it was a comedy with a great cast and the main character was a pregnant teenager.

Not only did I love the movie, but also the cast was outstanding. Break through actress Ellen Page made me fall in love with her character. I am bummed that the film didn't win Best Picture, but I didn't see all the movies that were nominated. To see more about my Junotastic experience, read more.

The film was comedic genius. My husband and I already want to see it again as we missed some dialogue due to the entire audience roaring in laughter. But at times we also had tears in our eyes and fluttering hearts.

I hadn't realized that adoption would be a focus in the film and loved how they handled the topic of teenage pregnancy. While Juno's parents were shocked and appalled at her becoming pregnant, as many would be, they were also supportive. And casting the adoptive mother, Jennifer Garner, in the light they did was especially endearing to me. Since I don't want to spoil the movie for you, I will just say that it made me proud to be a mother.

Leaving the film, I wondered how many kids would be able to do what Juno did. Some may say her decision was brave and others would argue it was stupid, but it made me wish that every unplanned pregnancy had a happy ending. Sadly, I know it was just a movie, but can't help but hope life would imitate art.

Do you think you could have pulled a Juno as a junior in high school?

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Babies Having Babies in Bulgaria

babysugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:00:38 -0800

Sadly teenage pregnancies have become all too common, even trendy in some spots. While movies like Juno make it seem like an American phenomenon, other parts of the world have seen babies having babies for ages. In many countries, the age of consent is as low as 13 or 14. Though it varies by state in America, the average age of consent is 16. So when we hear about an 11-year-old having a daughter, it still shocks the system. When I think of 11-year-olds, I imagine budding girls starting middle school and having their first crush. I think training bras and scrawny legs, not breastfeeding an infant. But that's exactly where one young lady finds herself.

An 11-year-old Bulgarian girl had a daughter in the middle of her wedding festivities. Yes, wedding festivities. The two wanted to tie the knot before the baby's arrival. Apparently it was love at first sight when her 19-year-old fiancé rescued her from a bullying group of lads. The two consecrated their love for each other within a week and unknown to him, she lied about her age so not to scare him off. She immediately became pregnant with his child. Now the two teens are parents to Violeta. The new mommy said, ""I'm not going to play with toys anymore - I have a new toy now."

Baby Mama Interview: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

LilSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:00:35 -0700

Baby Mama takes a comedic approach to fertility.

Tina Fey plays a successful businesswoman yearning to have a child. After learning she has a million in one chance of getting pregnant, she finds a surrogacy center and begins the process of finding a baby mama, played by Amy Poehler.

When asked about the research they conducted into birthing centers and natural birth methods, the actresses discussed the experts they had on set:

Tina Fey: We had some experts on set who were wonderful, like very earthy women who came up to me and were like (in a breathy voice), "Are you thinking about having another child now?" and I was like "No," and she was like "You should consider a water birth" and I’m like, "Didn’t you hear the part where I said no!"
Amy Poehler: The same woman was telling pregnant people in like their 9th month . . .
TF: Because a lot of the other women in the class were very, very pregnant . . .
AP: And she was explaining nice ways to make love and the women were like, "Uh, no."
TF: But by the end of it, I did want to have a water birth.
AP: You don't need to have a baby to have a water birth.

To read the rest of the interview, read more.
They were also asked about the stress that new parents face today and the differences that go into raising a city child:

TF: My daughter starts preschool next year so I just went through the process of taking her to her preschool interviews and you are just hoping "Please don’t poop yourself during that time."
AP: Did she wear a little power suit?
TF: Yeah, she had a little power suit!
AP: And did she have a teeny tiny brief case?
TF: She had little teeny tiny resumes.
AP: Made of candy!
TF: Yeah, she ate it. That you don’t find in the suburbs.
AP: Yeah I like that moment [in the film] where they say Wingspan and Banjo do you want to play with Groovy and Cheyenne?

Given Fey’s decision to give her daughter a traditional name Alice, we asked the women about Hollywood’s penchant for giving their children odd names:

TF: I like interesting names. My daughter’s middle name is sort of unusual, but they are all family names. I think that when you have a kid you have to try to think that when this child is an adult, how is this name going to suit the person. I like the name Apple.
AP: I’m just gonna name my kids numbers. New Dude, Little Dude, and eight George Foremans.

With Knocked Up and Juno having already covered pregnancy over the past year, the women were also asked why Hollywood is giving pregnancy so much attention:

TF: I think it is a universal experience and there may be a generation of comedy writers that are hitting that age where they all have kids and the guys would have written their dating fantasy comedies 15 years ago. People write what they know and it might be a generational thing.
AP: I think that Juno is very different from Knocked Up and our film is very different from that too. They’re all kind of different. Although they all tend to deal with a similar topic that’s really where it ends. But I think that our film is in the same way as Knocked Up it's just kind of straight up . . . with jokes.

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What Are Your Thoughts on Unschooling?

babysugar — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:00:55 -0700

I like to hear different perspectives on parenting - sometimes I am enlightened and other times I am left shaking my head. After reading an article by Joanne Rendell titled "Unschooling - Why my kid won't attend school this fall - or maybe ever", I was puzzled. An author married to a college professor, the two New York City dwelling parents decided not to send their five-year-old son, Benny, to Kindergarten for various reasons. Simply stated:

Unschoolers believe in letting a kid's curiosity, interests and natural hunger for knowledge guide their learning. . . But un-kindergarten for us means Benny can sleep late so I can write. It means we don't have to worry about bedtimes and can go out on the town with friends any night of the week. We can go to Europe and visit my family when the flights are cheap. Un-kindergarten also means we can pick and choose how we spend our days and who we spend them with. Benny can go to free classes at the Metropolitan Museum in the week when it's less crowded. He can read a book on sharks when he feels like it. He can experiment with bungee cords while eating his breakfast at noon.

As a mother and former teacher, my knee jerk reaction was to question the author's sanity and values. But as I try to do with most things in life, I looked at it from a different perspective and pondered her arguments for unschooling. While I still don't particularly agree with her notion of keeping her child up until midnight, letting him sleep until noon, taking him to bars and flicks like Juno, there are some valid lessons that I am sure he is learning through her "teaching" process. But what she described above sounds like the perfect weekend. Surely Benny could take advantage of schooling during the week while soaking up valuable family and exploratory time on Saturdays and Sundays.

How the child will adjust to "normal" life after a few years of home unschooling is yet to be determined. That is where I fear the tot could encounter his biggest challenges as sleeping until noon is not acceptable for grades K - 12 and bar hopping is definitely a no-no under the age of 21. Personally, it sounds like the wee one is living the life of a college aged pupil when he should be learning more structure and ABCs. But hey, that's just me.

Tell me, what do you think of Mrs. Rendell's unschooling perspective?
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Tinseltown Has Gone Tots On Screen and Off

LilSugar — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:00:02 -0700

Hollywood's baby boom continues on the big screen. While we anxiously await the births of the Jolie-Pitt babies, Tinseltown has delivered yet another movie that deals with motherhood. Heather Graham stars in Miss Conception, a flick about a woman obsessed with having a child. As the character's biological clock ticks, she makes desperate attempts to find a potential papa to impregnate her - even if it means pretending to rent her apartment to lure men to her lair or attending funerals to take advantage of grieving guys. Knocked Up, Juno and Baby Mama were all huge hits, do you think there's room for more babycentric movies or have you tired of the tot topic?

Which Parent Does Your Baby Look Like?

babysugar — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:00:38 -0800

Jennifer Garner was on Oprah promoting Juno and discussing her adorable lil Voilet recently. When Oprah asked Jennifer who Violet looked like, the proud mama said:

That’s the little secret if you really think about it - we could be brother and sister. I wish I hadn’t just pointed that out on national television, but it’s true, we do.

We do have to admit that Jen and Ben can look a bit similar, but it's hard to deny that Violet is the spitting image of her gorgeous mother.

Do you have your own mini–me?

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