Dr. Laura,

I worked for several years as an infant/toddler "teacher" for a large childcare corporation caring for the very young children of parents who would rather have their careers than actually parent their own children. Among other reasons, I grew tired of enabling this behavior, and felt it was morally wrong to continue working there.

I then found work as an infant/toddler "teacher" at an Early Head Start program conveniently located on a high school campus so as to provide care for the young children of the low-income high school student population. The purpose of this federally-funded program is to allow these teen moms to finish high school while providing quality care to their young children. I wish these wonderful innocent children would have been adopted into two parent homes with adults parenting them, however these teenage girls enjoy their new accessories and feeling empowered by being a teen mom. Seeing these "mothers" in action I can't help but feel it would be a disservice to these innocent children to be at home with their "mothers" who are too young and immature to truly mother them. I feel like I'm in the middle of a tragic situation for these children but am doing my best to do the right thing, and within the hours I care for these children I mother them the best I can.

Anonymous