Generation Gap In Montgomery County

I learned two facts about Montgomery County during the past week. First, Montgomery County has the highest percentage of senior citizens of any county in New York State. The second fact is that Montgomery County has a 40% teen pregnancy rate, far above the state average of 26%. Are these two facts related? Maybe.

The large number of senior citizens in Montgomery County are the grandmothers and grandfathers (or great grandmothers and great grandfathers) of this large number of pregnant teens. The elderly population did not have a high pregnancy rate when they were teens, in spite of the fact that there was little sex education in those days and birth control was not so easily attainable.

There has to be a vast store of wisdom and knowledge among the very large population of seniors in Montgomery County that should be passed onto the younger generations. How is it that grandma avoided pregnancy when she was a teen, but her granddaughter didn’t? Is the answer to this question and other questions being kept secret by the older generation, or does the younger generation just not want to hear what the elderly have to say?