Conservative words about fatherhood
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
On this past Father ’s Day a politician said this in a speech laced with conservative language:
“We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception.
“Too many fathers are MIA, too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives, and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.
“Conception … that doesn’t just make you a father. What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.”
Those words ring true, considering the statistics that define a story we are reporting this week — that of Madera’s teen moms. Eighty percent of the males who father children with teen girls in Madera County wind up having nothing to do with the children.
They abdicate their responsibilities. They essentially disappear. And their absence leaves an emptiness in the hearts of those little kids, who usually suffer poverty and the loneliness of not having a father in their lives.
Those dads who do stay with the teen moms and help them rear their children earn and deserve respect for doing the right thing. The only problem is, there are just too few of them.
But getting back to the politician who spoke those words. He was speaking in Chicago, before the Apostolic Church of God, a largely black-membership congregation, and was referring to the
fact that most black babies are born out of wedlock. He was warned afterward that he would be criticized for “beating up on the victims” and “airing dirty laundry.”
Who was this conservative-sounding speaker? Barack Obama.
What has been the whole point in this 7 part series? Is the objective of this to promote and show that having kids at age 13 and 14 is fine because we have a day care center at Madera High? It is sad to think that we even need to have a day care center in a High School. The message being sent in these articles seem to be saying ”I’ve done it and you can do it too.
In order to get rid of this title as being the top 3 in the state in teen pregnancy, we need to be promoting abstinance or at least knowing the ramification you can have of being involved in sexual activity at such a young age.
This is a big problem in Madera/Madera County. But, change and awareness never seems to happen in this city.
I’m not sure if the last part in your series about teen mothers was meant to embarass that young lady or to show what she goes through but I think that it just showed that she is partially not responsible enough to care for a child at all. Being a diabetic myself for far longer than she has I know how it is to live everyday with diabetes. But, she had a child as a teenager as a result of her decisions(knowing she was diabetic at the time) and it appears she cannot even take care of herself(hospitalized two times for “not correctly managing her diabetes”). Even though the story talked about her improving her life in school etc. etc., it does not seem like she cares much for herself or her child because she is not taking care of herself like she should which could lead to decreased care for the child. This young lady must learn that in order to care for a child she must first learn how to take care of herself properly. What will she do when she is crippled or limbless or worse because of diabetic complications brought on by her not caring for herself? How will she care for her child? This is something both she, any other diabetic mothers, and everyone else should think of. I can only hope she gets it together and learns how to take care of her diabetes and her child at the same time.
On a side note, taking care of your child and not having time to care for your diabetes is not a valid excuse. There are many other parents out in the world with diabetes and they are able to take care of themselves and their children. In the case of this story, the child care is leading to the important personal medical needs being ignored which will in turn lead to worse/decrased quality child care. This is something that noone wants but it can be prevented..
I was wondering where is the news in the trib? Things are happening everywhere Fresno State Baseball in the College World Series, Floods, a man drove thru the front of a building here in town. And yet, our front page highlights are a 700 pound mans birthday, or a series actually promoting teenage pregnancies. It is absolutely ridiculous
WEBMASTER’S NOTE: Although not on the front page, the advancement of the Bulldogs in the series and the floods in the Midwestern U.S. has been repeatedly covered in The Madera Tribune. We were unaware of the auto accident you refer to and thus it was not covered.