Have you seen the recent billboard campaigns in Fort Worth, Chicago, Milwaukee, and New York? They are directed at teenagers to curb the rate of teenage pregnancy.
Show these advertisements to your young people and talk about them. I have provided some discussion questions.
- Have your child/teen look at all of the billboards.
- Answer the following over all questions.
- Answer the question(s) specific to each billboard.
Overall Questions:
- Which one did you like the best / worst? Why?
- Which one would work best / worst at your school?
- Which one would work best / worst for all teenagers in the U.S.?
- Did any surprise you?
2 out of 3 Girls who have a baby won't graduate high school.- What are all the things that would make it hard to graduate for a girl who has a baby?
- What happens to a girl if she doesn't graduate from high school?
Dad, you'll be paying to support me for the next 20 years. NY State law requires a parent to pay child support until a child is 21.
- How would paying child support make it difficult to reach your dreams of marriage, family, and/or career?
- Parent / Youth Worker, use the age of the teen you are talking with to talk about how much longer you would be paying child support for them. Talk about how that would affect your life and the life of the child right now. (The age of paying child support varies by state.)
Unexpected? Most teen pregnancies are. Avoid unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Use condoms. Or wait.
- Do you think guys would think about teen pregnancy more if they were the ones who physically got pregnant?
- Should that make any difference?
- This billboard lists two consequences not just one. What are they? Which is worse?
- This billboard lists two ways to avoid the consequences. Do they work just as good or is one better? List the ways waiting is better.
If you finish high school, get a job, and get married before having children, you have a 98% chance of not being in poverty.
- What three things does this billboard say you need to do before you have a baby to avoid poverty? Which one is the most important?
- Why is poverty more likely if you have a child before you do those three things?
Babies born to teen moms have a lower chance of succeeding.
I'm twice as likely not to graduate high school because you had me as a teen. Kids of teen moms are twice as likely not to graduate than kids whose moms were over age 22.
- These two billboards have a different focus on the consequences of teen pregnancy. Who suffers this consequence?
- List all the reasons a child of a teen mom would have so much trouble graduating.
Disclaimer: some of the accompanying education in the websites of these campaigns is not so good. I have cited the sources but do not recommend them.
(Chicago Department of Public Health. (n.d.). Retrieved 2013, from BeYouBeHealthy: http://beyoubehealthy.org)
(Fort Worth Independent School District. (2011, May 13).
Photo Galleries: Wyatt Marketing Billboards. Retrieved from Oscar Dean Wyatt High School: http://schools.fwisd.org/wyatt/photogalleries/Pages/Billboards.aspx)
(The City of New York. (2013). Retrieved from NYC.gov Always Open: www.nyc.gov)
