MIDDLETOWN — Melissa is a 16-year-old junior at Middletown High School.

And she's pregnant.

Some classmates tell her, " 'You're too young to be pregnant,'" Melissa said. "'You'll never be a good parent.'"

Children can be cruel.

Melissa attends parenting classes with Kristen, a pregnant 16-year-old sophomore at MHS, and they attended the Help Me Grow baby shower Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Middletown Community Center. Twenty Butler County agencies set up informational tables along the walls of the center's gymnasium. Representatives passed out brochures, gave short parenting demonstrations, and assured about 200 young women — and the fathers of their babies — that they aren't alone.

There were babies in strollers, babies in car seats and babies in bellies.

"It was nice to talk to all of them," Kristen said. "I can't believe how many girls like us who are here."

Melissa called the baby shower "a good learning experience."

Maria Metz and Stephen Scott, who have two sons each with different partners, are expecting their first daughter on Dec. 23. Scott's sons are 15 and 16, and Metz's boys are 3 and 11.

It was time for a refresher course.

"You're always learning," he said.

"Children teach you a lot," she said.

Jewel Bell, who works for the city health department, stressed that black women need to understand the importance of having a healthy baby.

She said because of stress, heredity, lack of appropriate insurance and inadequate prenatal care, black babies are three times more likely to become ill than white children.

"We have to educate the mothers," Bell said. "We have to introduce them to the agencies that can help them."

The day also included free food, cake, and nearly 100 door prizes donated by Butler County social services agencies and retailers Walmart, Kroger and Target.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.