Teen Mom has shown us various difficult situations that these young mothers must deal with; there's the usual financial, relationship, and educational struggles, but some of these young women have to deal with more on top of these things.
I want to focus on the recent arrest of Janelle, a mother featured in the second season. (You can see the article here). She has had troubles with her son, and gave up custody of him to her mother. In January, she and her boyfriend were arrested on charges of marijuana possession. This brings up a couple of questions for me that I'd like to ask:
Does doing drugs make one a 'bad' mother?
If so, what constitutes a drug that is too much? Is weed okay, but coke is not, etc.?
Why does doing drugs makes one a bad or good parent?
What about those parents who are addicted to drugs, e.g, what if Janelle had been discovered to be addicted to heroin?
Are there extenuating circumstances to drug use, e.g, do we more easily excuse and forgive drug use when it's done by richer, more privileged people than those who are poorer, come from broken households, etc.?
I think doing drugs does make one a bad mother. When Janelle smoked weed it made her look like a really bad mom and didnt care about her child which she doesnt anyway to my opinion. I do not think weed, coke, heroin, speed, pain pill and theres tons more, I don't think any of them are okay. Parents that are addicted along could pass that on to there childern if they seem them do or find the drugs and wonder what it is and try it. If Janelle was discovered for being addicted to heroin first she will get her child taken away for good and problem get sent somewhere to get help. I don't know if richer people are forgive more easily then poor people. They would definitly be in the new but since they have alot of money they can use that to use.
ReplyDelete-Jamie B.
I think drug use is not an activity that a responsible parent would partake in. Drugs take you out of your normal state of mind. They make it difficult to make decisions, and from what I have witnessed, they always diminish the amount of responsibility a person can handle. I think it's just a negative environment also to bring a child up in. The child will likely be neglected at one point or another due to the drug use. I think neglect can be universally agreed on as negative. For me, the type of drug does not matter. I think some people find heroine and other drugs to be worse than marijuana because the media has portrayed the harder drugs as being much more destructive. It is likely true, because hard drugs are much more addictive and seem to consume people's lives more often than marijuana. When it comes to parenting, I think it's all negative for the child though.
ReplyDelete-Ami J.
I think that any thing whether it be a drug a lifestyle or an obsession, if it effects the life of the child then it is wrong. If Janelle really wanted to be in her baby's life then she would not be careless and just do anything that she wants to. I think her doing drugs does effect her son's life because she can not even take care of him. I think it is the same of a parent who works too much and does not spend enough time with their child. It effects the child and it is not good for the relationship.
ReplyDelete-Sam F.