Hw 35

In my opinion, an interview is something that must be done face to face to understand what a person is trying to convey in their answers. However, throughout my five interviews with friends ranging in age from 15 to 18 years old I didn’t always have that luxury and it showed in their responses. In my interviews I started with a prompt that I hoped would insure well thought out answers. My opening began, “When I ask a question, take the first answer that comes to mind and hold it. Then let the other responses you are thinking about come to the surface of your brain and put those thoughts together and give me a response.”

The first part of my interviews consisted of a series of six general questions that interested me. I received a great deal of similar answers when asking the individuals about teen pregnancy T.V. shows, their views on birth, and what they knew about the pregnancy process. When I asked if it was a parent’s obligation to make sure that their child had a better life than they did I received the same answer, which was surprising to me. In each interview the person stated that it was not the parent’s job to make sure that their child had a better life than they did. This baffled me because I believe the opposite and could not understand why they thought this way. My friend, Molly, said the only thing that allowed me to somewhat understand what they all thought. “It’s not a parent’s job to make their child have a better life; but to support their child in what they want to do no matter what.” This comment allowed me to understand that as long as your child is doing what they love they will have a great life.

The second part of my interview was having my friends think about birth in depth. I described a scenario that would change their lives and asked them to imagine whatever I said as if it was happening to them. I told each of them they were pregnant and I was the first one to inform them and, if this was the case, would any of their answers change. This question, no matter if asked face-to-face, typed or described though video chat did I sense I got an honest response. Both Jasmin, whom I video chatted, and Anna, whom I interviewed face-to-face, looked down at their bellies and thought about what I had just said. Of course, neither could possibly have an honest response unless they were actually pregnant. But Jasmin said she would keep the baby and not change her mind. Anna said she thought about what it would feel like to have a life inside her but she realized that the baby would not have a good life and neither would she. She kept her ideas the same. Meaghan said she would change her belief and ideas if this happened to her. Before, she didn’t think that having a baby could hurt a mother mentally but at her age she knows that it could have serious a impact on her and her baby’s future. Molly would keep the baby because of her religious background. Stephanie was undecided whether she would keep her baby; but given the situation she would most likely not keep it because of her age and all the responsibilities a mother must face.

From these interviews I learned a lot about what my generation thinks about birth. I thought that my ideas and beliefs about birth might change but they didn’t and that’s okay with me.