It's great that there are women here who have supported themselves and their children through education whilst being a teenage or younger mother. But it isn't the norm. There is a reason why the rate of teenage pregnancies is recorded and why the aim is to lower it.
Exactly.
While I do have admiration for people like the OP and ShesABelter for making sure that their children (and they themselves) are not socially, educationally or economically disadvantaged by the fact that they became parents very young, it absolutely isn't the norm and governments all across the developed world have recognised this for a very long time.
The fact is, it's usually a route to parental relationship breakdown, single parenthood and a childhood of disadvantage. I realise it's a complex subject and we need to separate causal factors from correlations here, and the level of financial and practical support a young woman receives from her own parents and the baby's father can make the difference between sinking or swimming.
But a few people popping up to explain why the stereotypes are wrong and the common problems are nothing more than 'misconceptions' doesn't change the outcomes for the majority of children born to mothers still in their teens.
Just because you don't fit the stereotype, doesn't mean it isn't there. As I said before, I can't help feeling that the motivation for threads like this is to show the world that you don't fit the stereotype. Well, great. Bully for you. Let's hope you can still say the same in 10 years time.
It makes me feel a little uncomfortable to hear very young mums bigging themselves up about how brilliantly they've done and hearing other people congratulating them. It gives other less capable, far more vulnerable young women the idea that it's a route out of their shit life, and something to be aspired to.
They think having a baby waves a magic wand over all of their problems; gets them a nice home of their own, a regular income from the state until they are on their feet and can forge forward with their original plan going to uni once their baby is at nursery (they all say that, and indeed are encouraged and supported to do it, even if they can't pass a GCSE above a grade C, never mind a degree, because they see that it gets them a pat on the head and words of encouragement. They think it somehow offers evidence that they are not the 'stereotype' who will be a drain on the state, even though for the next few years at least, they will in fact, be a drain on the state. Also their boyfriend will suddenly morf into husband/father/man of the year (instead of the weed smoking, feckless boy he is now) and everything will be wonderful.
The truth is rarely like that, which is why the government ploughs so much effort into trying to avert poor outcomes for these children, via things like SureStart and Pupil Premium.