Over 200,000 Children under 18 were married in a single country in the last 15 years!

[gordi]

This is a strange one.

Due to some legal loopholes, more than 200,000 children under the age of 18 were recorded as having been married in one single country over a 15 year period (2000-2015), mostly 16 and 17 year olds... but worryingly including kids as young as 10!!!
(In the UK the legal age for marriage is generally 16, in most American states it's 18.)



When we hear of "underage" marriages where a child is married, we often think of certain Muslim countries where child brides are perceived to be relatively common?

Well, the above statistics do not come from a far-off Muslim country...


They come from a "first world" Christian country.... The Good 'Ole US of A!

Read the linked article for full details... it is quite difficult to believe, but the stats do appear to be legit...

LINK to article on The INDEPENDENT Website




G

[BIAD]

LINK to article on The INDEPENDENT Website

I can't access the site, G. It just won't let me and my sensitive nature in!!!

[gordi]

LINK to article on The INDEPENDENT Website

I can't access the site, G. It just won't let me and my sensitive nature in!!!

ooops!

I think I messed up the link @"BIAD" .... Should be fixed now!
My apologies!!!

G

[DuckforcoveR]

I read something like this not too long ago, what a damn shame. My first thought (reading the headline) was "India or Pakistan" because I watched a documentary on arranged marriages in that region but nope. Good ole' USA as you said @"gordi" 

There is no way most people younger than 18 (I actually think it's closer to 25 or 30) understand what it means to be married, and the older people in those groups (70?! what the hell?!) should be ashamed of themselves for subjecting children to that.

[Mystic Wanderer]

In the hills of Appalachia, until more modern times, it was quite common for girls as young as 14 to get married. I think it was because of the hard times back then. Parents usually had lots of kids because of no birth control, so sending the girls off to let someone else take care as soon as they were old enough was a help to have enough food for the others.
But, you have to consider, back then children weren't allowed to be children, as we know them. They had to help with chores and help in the fields, scrub the clothes, and do everything the adults did. They grew up knowing how to take care of a house, and the family.

You put children of today in a marriage, I think there's going to be a big problem.  By today's standards, this is just WRONG. Children this young just aren't ready for that kind of responsibility, and as it's already been said, Shame on the parents for allowing this!  

[guohua]

This is So Wrong In Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo MANY WAYS!

It's considered OK in some Religions Other Than Muslim? That Is SICK!

[Spirit Scribe]

In the hills of Appalachia, until more modern times, it was quite common for girls as young as 14 to get married. I think it was because of the hard times back then. Parents usually had lots of kids because of no birth control, so sending the girls off to let someone else take care as soon as they were old enough was a help to have enough food for the others.
But, you have to consider, back then children weren't allowed to be children, as we know them. They had to help with chores and help in the fields, scrub the clothes, and do everything the adults did. They grew up knowing how to take care of a house, and the family.

You put children of today in a marriage, I think there's going to be a big problem.  By today's standards, this is just WRONG. Children this young just aren't ready for that kind of responsibility, and as it's already been said, Shame on the parents for allowing this!  

One thing to consider was the lower life expectancy in that area at that time. Coal mines, infectious disease and other health factors meant that you might not live to see 45, so you had to get an early start to reproduce and raise some kids. Another factor was the high infant mortality rate at the time because of a lack of access to medical care. People had 10 or 15 kids, because MAYBE five would live to adulthood. They also needed help running a farm big enough to care for the family and feed them for an entire year, and the fact was kids were readily available when there was no money to pay outsiders to work. The problem then was when access to medical care became possible they didn't change their lifestyle right away, and they had all 15 or so kids living to adulthood! One of my previous neighbors had a LARGE extended family... both he and she had 13 other siblings apiece! Yep... 28 kids in one generation, all getting married and having other kids... talk about a population explosion!

[guohua]

Recently, Didn't an Amish family give their daughter to an old guy to pay off a debt and then he also got their other daughters to?

[Ninurta]

In the hills of Appalachia, until more modern times, it was quite common for girls as young as 14 to get married. I think it was because of the hard times back then. Parents usually had lots of kids because of no birth control, so sending the girls off to let someone else take care as soon as they were old enough was a help to have enough food for the others.
But, you have to consider, back then children weren't allowed to be children, as we know them. They had to help with chores and help in the fields, scrub the clothes, and do everything the adults did. They grew up knowing how to take care of a house, and the family.

You put children of today in a marriage, I think there's going to be a big problem.  By today's standards, this is just WRONG. Children this young just aren't ready for that kind of responsibility, and as it's already been said, Shame on the parents for allowing this!  

One thing to consider was the lower life expectancy in that area at that time. Coal mines, infectious disease and other health factors meant that you might not live to see 45, so you had to get an early start to reproduce and raise some kids. Another factor was the high infant mortality rate at the time because of a lack of access to medical care. People had 10 or 15 kids, because MAYBE five would live to adulthood. They also needed help running a farm big enough to care for the family and feed them for an entire year, and the fact was kids were readily available when there was no money to pay outsiders to work. The problem then was when access to medical care became possible they didn't change their lifestyle right away, and they had all 15 or so kids living to adulthood! One of my previous neighbors had a LARGE extended family... both he and she had 13 other siblings apiece! Yep... 28 kids in one generation, all getting married and having other kids... talk about a population explosion!

I have a sister who was married at 15. We weren't happy about that, but there it was. Cradle robbin' bastard came right in and stole her, was my way of thinking. Matter of fact, I was so put out by the whole ordeal that at one time I actually had the crosshairs lined up on his head, and pressure on the trigger - the only thing that stopped me was a sudden thought that I was about to make my sister a widow, and she was too young for that, too.

A couple years later, a family friend was talking to my baby sister and asked her if she was married yet, and she said no, So he says "13 years old and ain't married yit? You're an old maid!" He was joking and cutting up like he always did, but it weren't all that funny. That particular sister never did get married, and she's in her 40's now, has a great career.

I reckon I took up her slack, because I got married 4 times, first time when I was 24. Whomever said "hell even thirty is too young!" was right. I was in my 50's before I found the right one - didn't keep me from trying, though! I just kept doing it 'till I got it right!

My dad's parents had 13 kids, 12 of whom lived to adulthood. Many hands make light the work, as they say.

It's a "hill thang" that folks wouldn't understand, I reckon. You're right of course about the life expectancy thing - when I grew up, my nearest neighbor was 3/4 of a mile away across the ridges. I had to walk two miles in one direction and 9 miles in the other to even visit a girl. I guess you can figure out which one got visited more. Now there's so many of us it's like living in a beehive. I can almost throw a rock and hit my neighbor's house (not that I would - I've never enjoyed being shot at!), and that's way too close for my taste. If I can SEE a house, that's too close.

Marrying young isn't the way to go in general. Most of my ancestors married young, and married often, because not only was infant mortality a factor, but a wife dying in childbirth was pretty common, too, and they had to be replace to keep a woman's touch around the house - if dear old dad had raised all the young-uns, just imagine how much worse we might have turned out!

But times are different now, life is different. Sometimes, I'm pretty sure that custom just hasn't caught up with it yet.

But it is what it is, and kids are still popping out other kids around here.


.

[Mystic Wanderer]

But it is what it is, and kids are still popping out other kids around here.

They're popping them out everywhere. They may not be getting married, but they sure are good at reproducing... then leaving it up to the grandparents to raise the baby(s). 

I've seen an explosion of grandparents having to take on raising their kid's kid, just when they thought life was about to offer them some freedom to relax... SURPRISE!

Thank all that is good, I didn't have any grandchildren to have to raise, but my siblings do, and it can be quite the challenge chasing a two year old around when you're in your 60's.  Nope!  That's no way to live out 'the golden years'.