LOCAL: Over 600 girls aged between 9 and 10-years-old gave birth in 2020
Do you know a young girl that has given birth in the last year?
"A total of 34,587 teenagers gave birth last year - with 688 of them aged between 9 and 10-years-old." (News24)
We think it's important to go back and read that again...
Teenage pregnancy has long been something that we have seen emerge within many communities and one huge factor to consider when you approach this topic is that not all of these young girls fall willingly pregnant.
The question is not what are we doing wrong as a community, but what are we doing at all to address children giving birth to children?
It is not just scary for parents, but it is also a huge deal bringing in babies into the world and who is caring, and advocating, for those babies' needs and their future when their parents are going through puberty...
"According to Statistics South Africa, 899 303 babies were born in 2020, and of those 34 587 were born to girls aged 17 and younger. Of the 34 587 births from teen mothers, 16 042 were aged 17, while 688 were [9 and] 10 years young.
Early pregnancy and motherhood in South Africa creates a greater risk in terms of maternal complications, resulting in low survival rates of babies and forcing many girls to prematurely take on an adult role which they are not emotionally or physically prepared for," said Stats SA." (News24)
As a parent what has been your method of educating your child about sex education?
More than that, what do you do to ensure that you child is not in a sexually abusive situation? Unfortunately, as much as we a modern society, we are also afraid to address taboo topics such as teen pregnancy.
Statistics SA has noted that the total live births and registrations were 1 003 30, of which 899 303 (89.6%) births that were birthed and registered in 2020, and 104 004 (10.4%) were actual births from previous years that were only registered last year.
This seems to also be a growing concern as many parents do not register their babies within the first 30 days that they are allocated to do so. In particular, KZN has been named as a province that performed poorly here.
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In the midst of a world pandemic that has taken everyone by storm, we should not forget to pay attention to the social issues that we face on a day-to-day level. Sex education is one thing, but being mindful of the state of mind of our children is one of the key things that can lost in the day-to-day duties.
We understand it's not easy, we know that life can be overwhelming, stressful and so much more, but as a parent you make an oath to be there for your kids and that sometimes means being on top of things 24/7.
So take some time out today to check in with your children, be present and put your phone away at dinner -it will all be worth it...
If you need to talk to someone and don't feel like an adult gets you, you can call Child Line KZN on 0800 055 555.
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