I know the common trope of "small town where there's nothing to do so people make bad decision" and while I'll never fully understand this.
I'm watching Episode 4 and I had to stop for a moment and vent because I can't believe they didn't overplay this aspect.
We have Erin having a kid at 17 (probaby earlier if you do the math) Mare's son and his girflriend must have had drew in their early 20s, now I'm seeing Dawn with her missing daughter's kid and she must have ben early 20 as well. I can't believe this is somewhat realistic.
I think it's very realistic in small , boring, quiet towns
Never in my life (and I've lived in a town that's probably smaller than the one in the show) I've thought "shit, I'm so bored, let me have a kid and have even bigger financial struggle"
Well I would chalk it up to a more stable environment and attentive parents? More privileged? Not that that's a bad thing, maybe a more sheltered life? If you never thought that then maybe you were given tools to make you more of a logical thinker . I don't think they think " God I'm bored I think I'll have a kid." I think they think" God I'm bored , have sex and do not think of the consequences. Just because it never happened around you doesn't mean it doesn't happen. My mother was a foster parent We had several instances of teen pregnancy with a few of her charges.
But it was the 70s...either they were sent to homes for unwed mothers, dealt with the challenges or had abortions.
The facts are facts . This does happen in millions of small towns ...happens everywhere.
But it does exist, the highest rates of young adult marriages are in small towns !
Yeah I see it as a mark of how privileged I am when I can't even conceive of it. I've lived such a sheltered, suburban life. I didn't even get a girlfriend until I was 23, much less get anyone pregnant. It's so far removed from my experience that it feels like a TV contrivance (even though I know it's not).
Totally agree, at firsg glance u think thats cliche in the world of cinema but thats actually the reality of things, i had to do the same, stop around ep 4 catch my breath and think it through and thats when i understood these kids they having are the consequence of a disfunctional system/society rhats not caused by the small city effect but by the wrong decision made a looot prior, mqinly parenting and supervision. But the other key factor thats eye poking is the drugs ! Small cities have this combo of drug overload and shortage of jobs and schools, recipe for a broken generation. This is an issue thats happening worldwide, i hqve encountered more young drugusers in small cities than in big ones, the parents font seem to have a broad perspective on how to improve thwir children' life and the strong access and presence of the drugs makes it ta resort for all these young lads. Very devastating !
I grew up in a small, shitty small town with nothing to do. My best friend’s brother had a kid when he was something like ~19. Tried to make it work with the kid’s mom but she was a flake and peaced out, left the baby with him and moved away and kid hasn’t seen her in many years. My best friend and their mom helped the brother raise the kid, who in turn had HER first kid at I believe ~16–17. Best friend’s mom became a GREAT-grandmother while I believe still in her late 50s. Difficult to stress enough how common this in small, shitty towns. Pregnancies in middle school, etc.