Expert Explains Apparent Link Between Child Abuse & Teen Parents
By: Allison Morrison
Updated: November 30, 2012
"We tend to parent as we have been parented," Carla Olson with The Parenting Cottage said.
Jacob Tanguma, 19, was arrested for the murder of his child after he allegedly beat and strangled the 4-month-old.
Jayden Hamilton, 17, has also been arrested.
Lubbock County Sheriff's deputies said he critically injured his 2-month-old.
Olson said being a teen parent doesn't mean you will abuse your child, but being young, she said, does put these parents in a difficult situation.
"They're more impulsive than someone who's learned to control their emotions a little bit better. They're less likely to have the knowledge of parenting skills, so therefore they may not react as well in that situation as someone that may be five years older and has had a little bit more experience," she said.
Olson explained parenting classes, like the ones offered at The Parenting Cottage, teach teens how to cope.
"You can feel the adrenaline building in your body. All those factors that are happening before something like that happens, you just need to take that big old deep breath and walk away," she said.
Child Protective Services is investigating both Tanguma and Hamilton's cases.
A spokesperson for CPS said neither teenager was being investigated by the department prior to these incidents.
