Statistics show younger women that live in some of Scotland’s poorest areas are prone to to fall pregnant unlike their peers who stay in the country’s more wealthy areas. Being a mother or father can be a huge step in life but when you are young and unprepared, parenting can be a struggle. The biggest reason teen girls drop out of school is because of becoming a parent because they can not juggle education and being a mother at the same time.

The issue is young people are becoming parents frequently with no accurate knowledge about child development.I strongly believe parenting classes should be mandatory because these classes can benefit young teenagers girls and possibly young teenage boys as the classes teach the responsibilities of parenting, the classes can also prevent young people dropping out of school and can also support students who are already pregnant and balance being a parent and a student at the same time. Prepare Tomorrow’s Parents, a facilitator of teen parenting classes, says “The classes expose students to both the demands and the joys of having children and equip them with knowledge to make informed decisions”. Women under the age of 20 years old that are staying in the most deprived areas are more destined to fall pregnant. The pregnancy rates are are at least five times greater than them who are less deprived and Miles Briggs- Shadow health secretary says “…we can’t neglect the fact that more needs to be done to help those younger teenagers in some of Scotland’s most deprived areas”.

By helping the younger teenagers and providing classes for them they can understand if parenting is what they really want in their life in that moment in time. Although some would argue that parenting classes should not be mandatory in high schools as they believe that the classes will encourage teenage pregnancies instead of decreasing the rate. Also parents of teenagers and as well as teenagers presume that the classes will be too much work for the teenagers to handle because they are required to take the class. However I disagree as the classes will only give advice and help for the students for the future or for the present time.

Being a teenager at school whilst falling pregnant would be tough wouldn’t it? These classes help students decide if pregnancy is what they definitely want in that period of their life and if it’s the wisest decision. Parenting classes can help prevent future child abuse as the classes enlighten students on how to cope with their child’s behaviour which at times can be very irritating like tantrums. A article in “Time” a large number of people agree that parenting classes are important in high school as they say “Some child abuse is the result of a lack of knowledge about child development”. Also Tomorrow’s Parents has said that “It is important to reach students in their teen years, when their attitudes about children and discipline are still developing”. By helping to prevent child abuse it will not affect the child in their future and when they have children the cycle will not continue.In these classes learning basic skills in parenting is also important. By learning the skills step by step it is easier for pupils to learn these necessary skills even those who do not plan on children can have those skills for the future. Knowing how to cook nutritious meals for children and how to nurse the child also changing dirty nappies and bathing them is one of many tasks that have to be overcome whilst parenting.

Also other skills like :• How to understand and deal with the child as they grow through different stages in their life.• How to gain and achieve child support and possibly government advice for single parents.• To abstain from loosing your temper with children when going through a difficult stage eg.

Temper tantrums, demanding.• Creating fun tasks for the children to complete and enjoy but also to learn from.Knowing these skills will benefit the child in years to come as they will look to the parent as a role model and learn from them and when the time comes the child will learn the skills and teach them to their children and so on like a cycle. Robert Epstein a scientific America reports that “skills are most important to bringing up healthy, happy and successful kids”. To conclude parenting classes should be mandatory in high schools as they can help young teenagers learn how to be a successful parent and learn new skills to bond with their child. Imagine being a parent and not having the knowledge on how to parent your child you have brought into the world. I agree that parenting classes should be mandatory as it affects me and other teenagers my age and help us to have knowledge about parenting if pregnancy occurred for years to come.