I'd like to introduce you to a knew blog I'm following- Fridge Magnets.
This mama girl brings me back to a time when I was in her shoes. She's a mom struggling to overcome the hurdles that come with a life choice many are opposed to and criticize on a regular basis- teen parenthood. And this mama is exceptional in the fact she's chosen an even harder road- the life of a crunchy, natural, aspiring Midwife, very non-mainstream mama. I know from experience that this choice is the hardest someone young can make, whether you choose to keep your baby or not. It's a life altering decision and all you can do for the rest of your life is question and hope and trust you've made the right choice- for you and your little one.
Without proper support many fail. Filling the stereotypes society puts out there but there are a few gems that motherhood come to naturally and Ashley is one of them. Teen parents are just like any other parents but with more hurdles to jump and more to prove to everyone around them, because as a society we don't trust them or our own raising of them, to be good parents. It really wasn't all that long ago that women were expected to have children young and it was taboo not to but with better opportunities for schooling and the thought process that older is better it's all changed.
Motherhood is a natural thing. One I full heartedly believe everyone woman can do and can do successfully- with proper support and love and tolerance and understanding. Like any parent too much negative input from the outside can sabotage that success.
What I ask of my mama friends is this- if you see a young parent don't look down on them, don't give them a nasty look, don't judge them for what you see. Instead a smile, an encouraging word, a hand, can be the day maker and the one thing that can help them to be successful. Reach out to them like you would any other mother- because they are your sister mother. No matter the age they give birth, they are on the same path as we are but theirs is so much harder than ours.
thank you! i couldnt agree more. I will forever remember a person who helps me and never remember the ones who look down on me. Yesterday an older man helped me hold my bike as I put a fussy Diego in the seat. I will always remember his kindness.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing this. As a teen mother it brought tears in my eyes. it is ALL so true. We were expected to fail because we were young mother. The ones that did fail, as I went to school for teen mothers, i saw a few fail. And many just made it out like it was "ok" because they were to young, and yet many of them did end up prego again, some didn't. But it isn't OK to just give just because you were told you couldn't do it. Thankfully for my mother, and family i had mostly positive support but other parts of my family wanted me to give my son up for adoption and other negative support. I made it and my son is now 7, i have 2 step kiddoes, and my hubby and I have 2yr old, and plan on at least one more..giggle It CAN be done. And i'm here to prove it!...:)
ReplyDeletelittle extra info..:P i got prego at 15, had my son 3weeks to the day after my 16th bday..giggle. My son is ALL there. I breastfed. I finished school..:)