“We are your biggest fans, Shelby.” “We’ll always love you.” “You’ll always be our little girl.” “Shel, if you’re happy, we’re happy.”

The Talk! Everyone’s heard about it whether it be through word of mouth or through real experience. Everyone’s experience with it was and will be different depending on the person and their parents. I like to think that my experience was the craziest of them all but I’m sure it has happened to others before me.

Yes! I am a Latina. Yes, I am 16 years old. And yes I am NOT pregnant! I am aware of all the stereotypes and all the criticism people say about Latinos, and that brings me to my first reason.  I know I won’t be a teen mom because I want to prove people wrong. Hearing all those judgments and being looked down upon is my motivation. I want to prove I can be somebody, because I believe that we can get out of this situation. We are strong people.  

Do you ever feel like your parents don’t take your relationship seriously? Like they make it seem as though just because you’re young, you couldn’t possibly have any real feeling for your boyfriend or girlfriend or, gasp, maybe even be in love? You’re not alone. A few months back I had the chance to chat up members of the Youth Leadership Team and many of them told me how frustrating it is when their parents don’t get it. That even though they’re young, the ups and downs of being in a relationship are just as real—and sometimes as painful—as adult relationships.

“Put your coat on.”  “Look both ways before crossing the street.”  “Don’t chew with your mouth open.”  There a million things that our mothers tell us throughout our lives in an effort to protect and make us wise beyond our years. We kids, especially as teenagers, tend to roll our eyes and nod our heads while planning to not wear coats, run into four lanes of traffic, and chew with our mouths open even though we know it’s gross.

We’ve all seen posts about “The awkward moment when…”. They’re all over Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Some of them are hilarious and some are more shocking. What about the awkward moments that really matter? For example: The moment when a son asks his dad where he can get a condom. The moment a daughter asks her mom what would happen if she got pregnant in high school. The moment a teen asks about what to do if they’re in a bad relationship.  These are really important questions that your parents will undoubtedly have an answer for. Most teens say that parents are their biggest influences on what they think about sex, love, and relationships, so at some point you’re probably gonna have a problem that you need to talk to them about.

Wow, what an emotional season finale. If you're like me, you're already dying to find out what's happens next for the families on Teen Mom. This finale, and really this whole season, was about the girls trying to discover themselves as adults. The show ended with a lot of questions and different paths for the girls.  In the end, it certainly shows how early motherhood changes lives permanently.

Does absence make the heart grow fonder? In this week’s Teen Mom, it certainly seemed like dealing with separation was the main theme. Amber, Farrah, Catelynn, and Maci all cope with being separated from the ones they love for the sake of their children—and it’s not any easy sacrifice to make.

Having a good relationship with your parents is hard for anyone, even if you’re not a teen parent. Teens deserve a little freedom and independence, but if you’re under your parent’s roof, it’s their rules. In 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom we’ve seen all sorts of families, from close two-parent homes, single mother or father households, or even parents who have separated themselves from their child. Even after moving out, parents are an important part of the support system for any new teen parent. From the show, it’s pretty clear that the parent-child relationship is complicated when a grandchild is thrown in the mix. This week on Teen Mom, we experienced different family situations with Catelynnn and Farrah.

Whether you’ve known them your whole life, or just met them a few weeks ago, the person with whom you have a relationship is special. They are someone you share things that you wouldn’t share with everyone else. If you’re in a relationship it can change your world because for that moment you are affected by someone else. That someone that can change your mood in 5 seconds, for either good or sometimes bad. The thing is parents don’t understand that whoever we are with is special and has so much meaning to us. I think that parents only see what they did when they were our age. Because the love us, they don’t want to see us make the mistakes they did when they were young. But they have to let us make those mistakes in order to learn.