PROGRAMS | BLACK CHURCH INITIATIVE | "GENERATION TO GENERATION"
Generation to Generation
Educational Workshop
My Pledge
Background/Rationale: The most common reason we give girls for postponing parenthood is that it will change their lives negatively. Girls often hear “Don’t have babies at a young age because you will have to work twice as hard to be successful!” While this message is certainly true, today’s teens have seen so many young moms succeed or at least ‘get by’ that they are unimpressed by that argument. They often have a comeback such as “My mom will help me” or “I can get into a teen parent program and they will help me get a job.”
In the Generations program, we try not to address the issue of teenage pregnancy through the lens of the teen mom only. We look instead at the impact on the child, mother, and father. This activity compels the girls to begin thinking about their desires for their future children. In doing so, the girls explore how being a teen parent affects the life of the child. It is often the desire for something different for their child that makes many girls wait before becoming mothers. Once the girls have identified what they want for their child(ren), they can determine what needs to be in place (maturity of parents, relationship between the parents, family income, living arrangements, level of support from family and friends) for their child to have that kind of life.
For the complete My Pledge educational workshop, e-mail or call 202-628-7700 x24.
For more information on the National Black Church Initiative and Generation to Generation, please call 202-628-7700 or email g2ginfo@rcrc.org.
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