All parents should be required to attend parenting classes before having a child.

I ask, have you been to a parenting class? Do you have evidence that the majority of the people who attend these classes learn no new knowledge or insight of the matter? With over half of the pregnancies being unattended, that just reinforces the fact that if the pregnancy was unattended then they aren't ready for a child. Classes can help them to understand how to care for a baby. I understand you have come to the conclusion that parenting courses should not be mandatory, but instead voluntary. The United States already offers multiple kinds of voluntary classes and as we both can see, that did not help the fact that over half of women pregnancies in the United States are indeed unattended. If non-attendance was a problem, the outcome wouldn't be taking away the baby because that is false dichotomy. "If non-attendance is an issue, they'll take the baby away, therefore making parenting courses mandatory is bad. " Surely the outcome of such a simple issue wouldn't be such a severity. Our rights may be eroding away by the government, but that does not correlate to the 14th amendment or our independent rights as U. S citizens. Parenting courses is not such a class that will demand punishment if people proceed to teach their children by their own means. Parenting courses simply helps to give an understanding of what is going to happen, what to expect, and how to deal with situations to new parents, or soon to be parents. If parents should come to not see these teachings fit for themselves, they are more than welcome to raise their children how ever they wish or desire. The only reasonable way to ensure every parent a class, costs would be more than likely be inserted into tax pay. Your next argument may be that it is unfair to the people who don't want to take the classes or who aren't even going to need to take the classes to have to pay for such a thing. People already believe that their tax pay is going down the drain and not being used for the right purposes. Ensuring that these classes do help will help them to better understand that the tax money is going towards a good cause throughout the U. S. The pregnant 12 year old girl is exactly the type who would require the class the most. The headlines of that article had the father saying that he was "proud". Apparently that father wasn't any sort of help at all, he should have explained to his daughter how it was going to affect her in a negative way and how she should prevent that from happening again, rather than stating he was proud. That more than likely made the daughter believe that it was okay. The type of parenting that some teens endure is not a very responsible kind, this is why teens are the main targets for these parenting classes. There is about 30 teen births per every 1000 population. Classes may inform these teens on something that their parents did not teach them that may or may not have led to them having the baby. Parenting courses overall can help to inform new parents with valuable information that will help the child have a much more successful life. Parents may be more aware of bullying, and how to take care of the matter. They will know how to manage stress that may help to prevent child abuse. They will also learn a different way to discipline teenagers, if they find that information valuable it can help to prevent further pregnancy, violence, and abuse of alcohol or drugs. "Unlock the knowledge you already hold and share your wisdom with others. These classes teach effective communication and disciplinary skills for parenting children, from birth to young adulthood. Parenting classes and seminars emphasize positive approaches to discipline and build upon parents' strengths. They are available in the Denver metro area. Classes vary in length from 3 to 12 weeks and teach basic parenting skills. Some classes focus on the specific needs of parents of toddlers or adolescents or single parents, while others work well for parents with children of any age. " There aren't any rights being revoked in the participation of these classes. These classes simply prepare you for what to expect and how to deal with it. If a parent does not like the way he or she was taught then they're more than welcome to raise their child however they would like. In fact these classes welcome new knowledge and encourage it to be revealed and spread. . http://www.cdc.gov...;http://www.hhs.gov...http://www.familiesfirstcolorado.org...