The Youngest Parents

by Coles, Daniel A.; Coles, Michael H.; Coles, Robert; Lee, Jocelyn; Moses, John

• ISBN13: 9780393040821
• ISBN10: 0393040828
• Edition: 00
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-05-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

These teenage parents are black, white, and Hispanic; city dwellers and residents of small towns. From conversations with these teenagers, Dr. Coles weaves a subtle yet dramatic narrative that reveals the aspirations and apprehensions of these "youngest parents" whose prospects aren't very promising and whose assumptions aren't always those he, or we, share. Young mothers don't have an easy time ahead of them, but many pregnant teens believe that the babies they carry will lead lives very different from their own, that their babies may find the success that eludes them and may escape the limitations they've suffered. Dr. Coles finds that the fathers' confusion and, sometimes, resentment give way to a deep longing for respect and a desire for a way out of lives limited by poverty and poor education. Dr. Coles's text is accompanied by photographic essays by two outstanding American photographers. Jocelyn Lee, a photographer based in Boston, lived intimately with young families in Massachusetts where she explored the daily lives of young parents. John Moses, a pediatrician and photographer, worked for several years with teenage parents in rural North Carolina, and his pictures show the pride and tenderness they've found in family life.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(10)
1. Watching	11	(26)
2. Waiting	37	(18)
3. Welfare	55	(28)
4. Fast-Time	83	(16)
5. Hit and Run	99	(8)
6. Ups and Downs	107	(6)
7. No Caution to Throw to the Winds	113	(10)
8. Second Chance	123	(10)
Suggested Reading	133	(6)
Photographs by Jocelyn Lee	139	(44)
Photographs by John Moses	183