[j&jmom]

So I'm an educator and work with a lot of teenagers. Lately I've been seeing so many pregnant teenagers and it makes me so angry when I see them not taking care of themselves. Of course I know that teenagers eat crap and I try to inform all my students about ways to stay healthy. And some teenagers do do everything to stay healthy once they find out they're pregnant. But I have two students who smoke and drink. One student was talking to me about her WIC appointment and how she was disappointed to see that her coupons were only good for healthy cereal (she really wanted some marshmallow cereal). I know I can't blame it completely on the girl, she's just a child herself, but something needs to be done. I try to give some helpful advice to these girls, but I can tell that they probably don't care. And sometimes I think maybe I do just need to mind my own business, but seeing this breaks my heart. What would you do?

[JessP]

Sorry for the late response. That is a hard place to be in. I would say just by encouraging them and mentoring them you are trying and that is very nice. But sadly there probably isn't much more you can do for them beyond being a sounding board and offering sound advice.