High school, three jobs, social life, and soccer. Oh wait and a baby?
My mom is the greatest inspiration I have ever known. Unfortunately her life has been anything but easy. At the ripe age of sixteen she found out she was pregnant and that was probably the worst news she could’ve received at the time. She had no idea what to do, and almost everyone she knew believed that she would never be able to succeed with a child. Because of the teen pregnancy stigma, everyone assumed she would drop out of high school and never amount to anything.
From stares in the grocery store to blatant disrespect to her character, my mother has seen it all. People don’t understand how it can feel to be stared at, pointed at and laughed at for one mistake that they’ve made. Sometimes it can feel like there is no good way to deal with the situation because everybody seems to have an opinion on what to do with your life. Just because you have kids young does not mean that you are any less than mothers that decide to wait. Whoever says that teen mothers are always going to drop out of high school and live off of the government for the rest of their lives knows nothing about how hard these women work to give their children a good life. In my case, my mom continued to work three jobs, study through high school and went on to college. She is currently a nationally ranked Senior Account Executive that works with the heads of every major motor company in the country to help them advertise their cars. If she got there with all of these people telling her she would never amount to anything, can you imagine what she could do with genuine encouragement? It takes an incredibly strong woman to raise a child. It takes an even stronger woman to continue to raise that child while bettering themselves in the process.
The teen pregnancy stigma surrounding young mothers needs to come to an end. This weight on their shoulders is an added pressure that they don’t need. Just because a woman becomes a mother before you think is acceptable doesn’t give you the right to judge them because you don’t know their story. Make sure you think about that next time you see a young mother in the grocery store. Try not to stare at her because trust me, she feels those eyes on her, always.