Letter 16

My dearest Peapod,

This is sweet letter 16.  Your daddy and I tucked you safely in your bassinet last night to glance at an episode of "16 and Pregnant" as we put away the fresh laundry, and I began to flash forward to your life as a sixteen year-old.  Would you still listen and respect your parents? Would you be experimenting in sexual behaviors, or other avenues that you are not mature enough to handle or understand?  Or would you be excelling in the classroom? Taking on community service projects?  I kept coming back to the same concern as the episode droned on: what did these parents NOT do that I CAN do to ensure my daughter does not become a "baby having a baby."  How do I instill morals and respect for yourself so that you hold yourself to a higher regard?  How do I help you to want more for yourself than these young girls want for themselves?  I cannot imagine what it must be like for the parents of these young girls, merely teenagers, to watch their babies give life to another human being.  I am learning to be a parent at the ripe age of 26--I have 10 years of life experience on these young girls, and yet I find myself sometimes without the answers and wisdom to raise my child.  How can these tender girls think they can raise a baby on their own in today's twisted society at that age?  I pray, my sweet child, that the Lord will grant me the wisdom and compassion to raise a daughter that loves herself and body enough to realize there is so much more to the world beyond the age of "Sweet 16."

I love you my sweet tweenie,

Mommy