Eighteen year-old Carla also discusses her desire to have kids after college and getting a job. She says:
[A good age to have kids is] when you out of college, so you have a job, and you like wealthy, is a
good time to have ‘em. ‘Cause you don’t wanna bring a child in while you’re strugglin’. You don’t
wanna be strugglin’ with your child.
Along with their family expectations, many of these youths talk about not wanting to get pregnant, or
pressure from their parents to not get pregnant. Recall Lisa who had a list of goals and accomplishments on
her bedroom door. One of the things listed under her accomplishments column was “17 years old and I’m not
pregnant.” This statement was underlined and starred, indicating that this was very important to her. She said
many of her friends and people she knows are pregnant or have had multiple children by the age of 17, and
she was proud that she had not yet gotten pregnant.
Maya is a 12 year-old female whose family did not move out of public housing and remained in
Altgeld Gardens. She plans to wait to have kids until after going through college and getting job, and she
talks about this with her friends. She says:
We got too much stuff to do before we get pregnant…Finish all four years of high school.
Finish this year of grammar school, and finish all my four years of college and get my job, and
get
my house and everything that I need. Then I’ll think about that.
Lisa echoes this sentiment of wanting to be secure before having children:
I want a child, I want two kids& two kids and the perfect time for me would have to be like, at least
once I got a job, I got to where I want to be, an RN and I own my own place, have my own car. You
know, where I know that I can be there for my child, like financially and you know, emotionally,
everything.
Thus, the youth who have aligned career and educational expectations clearly fit their family
expectations into their goals for the future and typically view having their own family as a step after they
have achieved their educational goals.
Family support and peers
Some of the youth explain the ways that their families support and encourage their college
expectations. Tiana says of her parents:
Everybody’s just telling me like, go to college, because they know, they’re like, you real smart, so
you need to go to college and do all this, you know, be a doctor…You need to go to college, you
have to go to college, get in a good college. It’s just that my family’s so supportive of me. And they
be like, you got to go to a good high school, go to a good college, do with your life, don’t do nothing
wrong, and life is good…That’s how my family is, they just strive and push me.
9
Convention