Bare bones of story: Dad learns that 19-year-old Daughter is pregnant. Dad hasn't spoken with Daughter about it but gets his chance when he's called to pick Daughter up. He figures he's got 10 minutes.
I waited until we were on the highway and travelling too fast for her to safely jump out before broaching the subject. "I know you are pregnant," I said, and she let out a long sigh. "I want you to know that I will support whatever decision you make. I just want to make sure that you know you have a choice."
I thought it was a pretty good opening salvo. It let her know that I'm liberal, open-minded and, above all, pro-keeping all the options open.
"Well I'm not going to keep it," she said, defensively.
"That's good," I said. "I wouldn't want you to have a baby right now. But there are other options."
She gave me a guarded, quizzical look and I knew my window of opportunity was closing. In about seven minutes we'd be hitting the driveway and our conversation would be over. I plowed ahead, telling her about how I had been faced with the same situation at her age, only — being the male in the equation — with a lot less decision-making power. My girlfriend and I had discussed our fragile relationship and material poverty, and decided to put the child up for adoption.
"It would be a huge sacrifice on your part," I said, "but it would be nothing compared to the joy you would bring to the lives of a couple unable to have a child of their own."
So, Daughter has some objections that Dad satisfies. Daughter wonders how she would find parents for the child. Dad tells her of several couples he knows desperate for a child, including a couple that Daughter knows well.
I pulled into the driveway and put the car in park. "Yeah. They're dying to have a child."
"Wow," she said, jumping out of the car. She grabbed her bag out of the back seat and flashed me a grin before disappearing into the house. I followed a few seconds later and found her in the kitchen chatting with my wife, her face now as radiant as I'd seen in a long time. "Okay," she said. "I'll do it. I'll give my baby to our friends."
Presto! In a few moments, Daughter has decided to carry on with pregnancy as a gift. But, alas, there is a 'spontaneous' miscarriage a little while later, so we don't get to find out how this went. Also, that childless couple who was going to get the gift are -- happy-happy -- preggers!
So, what do you think? Not very veiled anti-abortion story? Projection of recent film Juno? Weird-ass father manipulating 'child'? Total BS?
The commentors bring up a lot of good points. Like, where was the boyfriend? Like, adoption isn't always such a piece of cake. Like, WTF is Dad up to 'outing' his daughter's pregnancy?
This one is closest to my take on it:
Keile Keile from Toronto, Canada writes: Your daughter knows how to party!
A kid at 19 AND she's giving it to charity?
Like a birthday present, right?
She's 'giving it a better life'. I'm sure that's what she'll tell it when she realizes, a few years from now, she may not ever get to see her biological offspring.
2 comments:
As soon as I read this, I knew Mr. Dad was being disingenuous: "I want you to know that I will support whatever decision you make. I just want to make sure that you know you have a choice."Same with his keeping all options of the table. And this next statement sounds positively passive aggressive to me: plowed ahead, telling her about how I had been faced with the same situation at her age, only — being the male in the equation — with a lot less decision-making power.Sounds like he is somewhat resentful that males don't have control over a woman's decision.
Dad should STFU until he is asked by his 19 year old daughter for his opinion.
Bogus - that's how I'd describe the dad and the story he spins. He times his talk to coincide with her trapped in the car with him as he's driving her somewhere? Nice.
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