I know so many people who’ve had children before marriage.  Then I look around and see it still happens no matter how much you teach sex education in school, no matter how much you talk to your children about sex before marriage, and no matter how you lecture about using protection.

My nephew and his girlfriend are now expecting.  His sister had two babies but did marry the children’s father last summer.  Another friend of mine just announced on facebook that her ninth grader is expecting in August.  I understand the infant didn’t make the decision to be conceived and come into this world, so I say there’s no shame in their existence.

However, are our children not hearing the message about celibacy and waiting until they are married to have children?  Are they not hearing about how difficult is to raise a child when you’re a child yourself?  Do they not understand that when they have a baby when they are still in their young teens or unmarried, that their lives change completely?  That they must give up their own childhood?

I’m excited for these young parents-to-be, but I’m also sad for them.  It’s a long, difficult path they must now walk.