Does liberal parenting often end up in teen pregnancy?

I'm pretty liberal when it comes to everything with parenting -- EXCEPT education and dating, where I can be a hardass.





I've noticed, of my relatives, the ones who were loose about those two things with their kids ended up with teen pregnancies. They thought they could be friends with their kids. ';My kid can tell me anything,'; they'd brag. I'm much more reserved -- I want to give the impression that there WILL be judgment should my kid get in with the wrong crowd.





When it comes to sex, should you be a friend to your kid or some stodgy hardass?Does liberal parenting often end up in teen pregnancy?
I would say liberal parenting, especially to the point where it seems like negligence or the kids rule, probably would produce more teen pregnancies. I made sure my kids knew they could always come to me with anything and we were close, but I was still the parent who was going to do my best by them and for them. I would say I had a friendly relationship with my kids but they knew who the parent was. I don't think you have to be a stodgy hardass, but I doubt you really are. (;Does liberal parenting often end up in teen pregnancy?
My parents raised me with very liberal parenting and I was always treated with maturity and they expected maturity from me in kind. I could ask my parents any questions and they would always give me a straight-up answer. I also felt, through my whole childhood, that I never had any reason to hide anything from them and that I could confide anything in them. I'm 24 now, in a relationship, always practiced safe sex, and still do.





Conversely, a friend of mine grew up in a very sheltered, religious, and conservative home. She hid just about anything she did from her parents and they never had any mature discussions with her, always treating her like a child to be reeled in. She had her first child in high school and she just had her third at the age of 22. She is currently a single mother.
Minor children need parents. Not that i think parent has to equal stodgy hardass but I definitely doesn't equal friend. My mom and I are friends now. I'm 30. We were not friends when i was younger. Her job was to get me to be a fully functional adult.





I hope by judgment you don't mean you give your kid the impression he or she could lose your love. I do believe children should know that their are consequences to all choices that are made.
You should be informative and let them know you don't approve. I am sorry but just telling them no and thats that doesn't solve anything. Inform them of BC, so if they choose to they may be safer about it. If they really want to have sex they will. Are you going to lock them in their room forever.
it had nothing to do with teen pregnancy. I've seen both types of parenting in many cases, and they come out about equally in that regard.
You should be a stodgy hardass until they are 18 - then you should stay the hell out of it.
Hardass. They've got enough friends.
I don't think liberal parenting has much to do with it. A liberal parent is more likely to educate their children on sex and teen pregnancy. There by reducing the chances of it happening. Conservative parents are more likely to have a child sneaking out to have sex or be irresponsible. It has more to do with trust and open communication versus a mindset of liberal or strict. The stodgy hard *** parents had the more out of control teenagers in my personal experience. My parents knew exactly where i was at all times. And i would never have thought of sneaking out or disobeying them. Because they weren't strict and any rules in place were for very good reasons i could understand. While friends were constantly sneaking out and being brought home by the police for underage drinking and other issues. The parents would set more rules and be disobeyed even more often.





EDIT: btw my parents were NOT my friends. they were my parents. But they had realistic expectations and open communication instead of dictating my life to me and forcing rebellion. Too many parents seem to err on either side of the spectrum by taking it to extremes.
';Stodgy hardass'; lol...if thats what you want to call it. No other option to me. I don't know why anyone would want to be their kids ';friend'; to begin with. A parent is just that, a parent. Friends are not supposed to be the parents. You can still have a good relationship with your kid...without being their friend.
I don't have a teenager (yet!) so I can only relate my experience AS a teenager.





My mom was the ';cool'; mom. I didn't have a curfew, she let us drink in the house where she could control who drove and who didn't (something which these days would probably get her arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor), and generally opted to trust my judgment about friends, dating, etc. In fact she frequently let my best male friend spend the night.





I didn't have sex until I was out of college. So apparently her permissiveness didn't lead to teenage pregnancy. Then again, I'm also not a dumbsh** so who knows? Most teenagers are idiots...I'll play it by ear when my little man gets to the age where he can impregnate someone.





It should also be noted however that my friends who had hardass parents where MORE promiscuous than I was.