To think this is exploitative more than it is shocking?

[lastnerve]

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2171070/Britains-youngest-mother-Amy-Crowhurst-insists-getting-pregnant-aged-12-smartest-thing-I-did.html]

A teen mother who was 12 when she had her first is saying how its the best thing she ever did because now she can go clubbing and wear size 6 clothes.

I'm wondering if she know going in how negatively she was going to be portrayed??

I actually feel a bit sorry for her.

Sexual Offences Act 2003

why telling?
I dont have a degree in fine arts or anything for that matter. Infact no one in my family has ever been to uni and i doubt my children will as my oldest has a learning disability and my 14 year old has already said he has no wish to go.

The fact is she is now 22 and as yet has made no move to re enter education. Anyone can say they want to do something but until she takes some steps towards it then it is just talk and with her track record so far i dont have a lot of belief that she has any serious intention of getting an education let alone a job.

But if 15 year old boys were prosecuted for having sex with children then perhaps that would send out the message that it is WRONG.

My 4 kids range from 22 to 12, they were all educated by us about sex, contraception, alcohol, drugs etc.

sure my lads probably had sex around 15/16 but we had condoms around the house, discussed safe and consensual sex and respect odour themselves and other people.

My dds are also fully aware of the facts of life.

That's parenting. This child wasn't parented properly and won't parent her children properly.

There's a hell of a lot more to parenting than gettin pregnant and pushing out a baby.

Wonder how many other kids this 15 year old has fathered and we are all paying for!!!!

I haven't bitched about teenage mothers.

I am bitching about this particular person's ATTITUDE that teenage motherdom is good and the way to go. She hasn't come out the other side wiser with grand plans for the future. She's come out the other side thinking it's no problem to be having sex at 12, and sees no problem with her own daughter doing it, and fuck education at the right time as you can do it later while everyone else is "getting fat" having kids. My issue is with this particular person not teenage mothers in general.

Someone's failed her if she thinks this way.

The whole thing is that she doesn't only think it's acceptable but thinks it's a good idea. So from this can we take it that she would think this was a good idea for her own children. Shakes head and wonders what the solution is.

The saddest thing about her is her claim that she'd be "happy" if her daughter was to have a baby at the same age, as it'd be cool to be a grandma at 27
So, not only has she screwed up her own life, but the cycle will very probably continue
And if I was told she was 40, I'd have no trouble believing it...

Ok her attitude isn't great but I think the whole article and I imagine the related interview in Closer just reek of them seeking the shock factor, through what I don't doubt are leading questions. As well as using an interviewee who seems not only immature but is evidently uneducated and seems much more preoccupied with her the money and the attention rather than her message.

It all comes across to me as very "Your children aren't the best thing to ever happen to you? But don't you love them?" in order to get their lines and you just know she completely falls for it. She doesn't come across as anything like most 22year olds, but she hasn't had the life of most 22 year olds, she sounds 16 or 17 and in the way of that age group as if she is saying anything and everything to get a reaction, be perfect, gain some attention, maintain her bravado, rebel against the established rules and of course the shock factor. I'd take everything she says with a pinch of salt.

I still think the bigger issue is that while legally there is a difference between 12 and 13 year olds, in reality there is very little. There are numbers of girls getting pregnant each year at 13, they aren't reported in the papers as this behaviour is seen as normal or not a story because it wont outrage us, but why not? Where is the outrage for those girls? We all know on mn very well about the failures of contraception, so if girls are having sex at 13 its a high risk situation.

You have no idea if her children will be a rented properly.
You want 15 year old boys prosecuted for having sex but you are ok with your boys doing it because you leave condoms about the place?
Does that mean its only rape if it's someone else's son then?

It is 'telling' because it was dismissed as not counting as ambitious.
Care work is only low status and low paid because it is viewed as work done by women from the lowere class.
It is a noble occupation and an ambition to be commended

Of course she has been failed! If my kids were having sex at that age I would be mortified.

I just can't be doing with this fake concern. It's all about the ouncil house and the benefits.

Who are you to decide if people's concern is fake or not mrsdevere? I find that a strange thing to say. It seems fixed in your mind that we're a bunch of benefits/teenage mother bashing witches. I don't think anything I say will make a difference.

'This child wasn't parented properly and won't parent her children properly.'

Disagree. Know people who were parented wonderfully and made some almighty cockups!! Also know people who had shit parents and are wonderful rols models.

How do you know she isn't a decent parent? What, based on her words probably being twisted in an interview. Cos that never happens, does it?

role

15 year old boys are prosecuted for having sex with underage girls.

A 12 year old doesn't have a "one night stand" she is raped.

I think mrsdv makes a great point in that a lot of people are missing the positives in this young womans story and we are getting hung up on her having sexual relations at 12.

From the sounds of the story, it seems like she has made good out of a bad situation.

She is still very young, and from this snap shot she is not showing a great deal of insight to how her life might have been better had she stayed in Education till 16, not had drug parties, etc etc. However, she is there being a mum, 2 kids not in care, talking about going into further education. I see that all as a positive.

dont forget the rag that the DM wants us all to be frothing at this...I refuse! She is being wholly exploited by the journalists. Yuk.

Yes let's blame the 15 year old, prosecute him and put him on the sex offenders register. That will teach them all!

Never mind that he might have come from the same background as her. How many of these children do you think even know the law regarding consent? How many go to school regularly and have parents who teach them that they should wait to have sex and how important getting an education is.

Could be a good thing in some ways. She says she's much more prepared for studying now. I think that's probably true of a lot of teenagers - not ready to knuckle down at 12 but maturity kicks in somewhere around 18/19 and then they'll apply themselves to their work.

No I completely agree her ambitions shouldn't be dismissed.

My previous post was more about the fact that we need to remember this is an articles created to outrage us and support the broken britain phenomenon, take it with a pinch of salt.

She clearly isn't a size 6 so I'd take that as proof they're twisting her words or she's just saying anything to get paid.

Nothing wrong with care work and i have done it myself but what i am doubting is the fact that she will ever bother to get the qualifications to do this work.

I hope she does but so far it is all just words and no action.

I don't think anyone even looked at my qualifications when I worked in care, i was never asked if i had any gcses . they trained me and I completed my nvqs through work

Well, I think it's bloody shocking. I don't see a whole lot of positives, either.

I'm with PenisVanLesbian on this one. Paartly because I agree with her and partly because it's just the best MN name ever !

The girl was 12, she has made good of a bad situation but i also think a 15 yo having sex with a 12yo is abuse
I think anyone has the potential to be a good mum no matter what age but i also feel sad that she has missed out on her childhood.
I had my pfb at 19 and i don't regret it one bit and i love being a mum, so much so i now have 4dc.
The girl is working to support her child good on her

pumpkinsweetie She is not working but says she wants to go to college and then care work but thus far has not done anything to achieve this.

mrsdv I think what people are trying to say that it is not something to aspire to and her immaturity at saying she would think it would be cool to be a gran at 27, she isnt a great advert for young mothers TBH i

It definately can be abuse. It isn't always abuse.
What if the 15 year was a vulnerable child with LDs?
I absolutely agree thatv12 year olds should not be having sex and the circumstances should always be investigated but why would it be automatically abusive if the children had an equality of power?

That means that the boy child would always be assumed a criminal. How can that be ok.
That is not to suggest that the girl is to blame or some sort of temptress.
It means that two children are having sex when they re both unprepared and far too young.

If the only positives you can think of is that her children aren't in care, its hardly a resounding success, is it? She hasn't really made good out of a bad situation at all.