Pregnancy Option 1: Parenting

In deciding how to deal with an unplanned pregnancy, one option is to have and raise the baby—to become a parent.

While this is the choice that most pregnant women make, the answer is often more difficult for teens and young women.

Raising a child can be a marvelous, life-changing experience filled with love, pride, and joy. 

However, it is also a full-time commitment that will absorb a large part of your energy as well as your time. 

Being a parent is an enormous responsibility. Your child will require constant attention. 

Even if you are lucky and you get some help from family and friends, there won’t be much time left for social activities like going out with your friends or going to parties. 

There will also be much less time for relaxation and sleep, at least in the first several months.

You also have to consider that raising a baby will require a lot of money. We’re talking about several thousand dollars just for the first year, and that doesn’t include birth costs.

As you think about whether parenting is the right choice for you, you should ask yourself not only if you want to be a mother at this point of your life, but also if you can afford to be one and if you can accept all the changes that this choice will bring to your life.

PARENTING: QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF

To help you figure out whether parenting could be the right choice for you, we have put together a series of questions to ask yourself. 

Try to answer these questions by yourself first, and then discuss the issues you raise with the people who are helping you during this moment in your life. Be honest with yourself.

1. How do you feel about the fact that you are expecting a baby?
2. Do you like the idea of becoming a mother?
3. Do you want this baby?
4. Do you think you would be able to be a good mother?
5. How would becoming a mother change your life?
6. How do you feel about the fact that raising a child will force you to give up some of your activities and plans?
7. Are you ready to dedicate a large part of your free time to your child?
8. Do you think you would be able to be a student and a mother at the same time?
9. Would you be ready to give up school to have your baby, if it came to that?
10. Do you know that many teen mothers are unable to finish school?
11. Are you aware of the impact that not finishing school could have on your future and the future of your baby?
12. What does the baby’s father think you should do?
13. Is the baby’s father the kind of person you want to raise a child with?
14. Is the baby’s father the kind of person you want to share your life with?
15. If the father doesn’t want to be involved, do you still want to keep the baby?
16. What does your family think you should do?
17. Do you think your family will support whatever choice you make?
18. Are you willing to have the baby even if your family won’t support you?
19. Who is willing to support you through pregnancy, birth, and motherhood (family, relatives, friends, and so on)?
20. How much is it going to cost to raise a baby?
21. Would you be able to support your child financially on your own?
22. Can your family support you and your child financially?
23. Will the baby’s father be able to offer you financial support?
24. Are you willing to get a job if your family cannot support you and your baby?
25. Are you aware that working and raising a child will leave almost no time for anything else?
26. Is it possible that someday you’ll blame your child for having to give up some of your dreams or plans?
27. Is anybody pressuring you to continue your pregnancy?
28. Will you consider giving your child up for adoption?
29. Will you consider ending your pregnancy