Often times young moms get a bad reputation and shows like MTV’s 16 and Pregnant do nothing to dispel this belief. That’s why I’m here. I’m going to tell you why having a young mother is super awesome. Or, alternatively, why being a young mom is super awesome!
Obviously 14 and 15 year olds having children in not healthy for the baby or the mother but I know plenty of younger moms (17-20) who have raised and are still raising amazing little humans. Today we’re taught that you should go out, get an education, get married, and start a career before you have children. Yes, that is ideal. You should definitely do those things.
Get that education girl. Get that CEO job. Screw the glass ceiling. The misconception I would like to talk about is the idea that young mothers are incompetent and are ruining their lives by having a baby, and that by having a baby, an education and career is not attainable.
No, this isn’t a pro-life article. If you think an abortion is best for you and your future, that’s your choice and I defend your right to make that choice.
Anyhow, should you choose to have said child you’re in for a great adventure.
Being the child of a young mother, 20 when she had me, 19 when she got pregnant, I have first hand experience with the absolute delight it is to have a young mom.
My mom, or my older sister as she is often mistaken for, is and was so much fun. I remember I had a friend stay over when I was younger, she was shocked to know that my mom and I had daily “Ultimate Dance Parties,” around my mother’s room. We’d each grab a hair brush and rock out to favorites such as the Ramones, Barenaked Ladies, They Might Be Giants, and my personal favorite, The Beastie Boys. My mom let me jump on her big bed, put her makeup on, and basically pretend I was in a music video.
My friend, who had older parents, was confused to say the least when I started applying Rouge #5 to my lips as my mom started blaring music.
My mom wasn’t the only super cool part of having a young mother. My grandma also gave birth to my mom at the age of 20, though she had been married at 17. Do you know how cool it is to have your grandma wake you up at five in the morning with the car packed, and whisk you away on an impromptu road trip to visit your uncle in college? Just because she felt like it? It’s pretty awesome.
Grandpa John, my mom’s dad, was also relatively young when I was born. We played basketball together and he was always my number one fan at every one of my games. Pretty cool when you consider many of my classmates’ grandparents were already in an old folks home.
Plus I got the older sister I always wanted in my aunt Erin, who told me cows were called deer and that there were gummy bears inside those big white hay things. She’s a peach, I swear.
But enough about me.
I have had the extreme pleasure of knowing one of the best young mothers on this earth. My childhood friend, Kiersten, was recently blessed with a beautiful baby boy named Cayson. If I have ever seen a more put together new mother, it’s her. Even her under-eye bags are designer. Kiersten is proof that young mothers, even raised in today’s society, have the ability to be tremendously good parents. The videos she posts and the cute pictures make my heart melt every time.
What I’m about to say next might shock you though: If you decide to be a young mother you’re going to have to make sacrifices. I can’t tell you how many nights I ruined for my mom when I was younger. She had a date? Hell no. I cried until she stayed. If she was out and I got sick, she had to rush home. Having a friend who’s a young mother has just shown me how hard it is. My friends and I know she’d love to spend time with us, but she’s so busy taking care of Cayson and working a full time job it’s hard. Sometimes we forget how hard that is and mistake her presence for a purposeful absence. I have a feeling my mother and all young mothers go through similar experiences.
But it’s worth it. It’s so worth it for both mother and child. We get to grow up together. Figure out life together as a pair. Plus my mom has the best fashion advice and I don’t have to show her how to work her IPhone. And she’s just plain super-awesome; she wears trendy clothes and even dyed her hair bright red for my first college volleyball game.
With all of that great stuff being said, I realize that not all young mothers are as equipped and have the support that my mom and friend do. But if you love your child and make your decisions based on that love and what you believe is best...and maybe a little common sense, you should have no problems.
Yes, there will be hard times where you grow up quicker than your friends and times maybe you wish you had gotten to do ‘this’ or ‘that,’ but I can promise, as a child of a young mom, the reward outweighs the losses.
The bond between a young mother and her child is truly special and I know I would never change a thing about it.
Oh, and my mom finished her associate's degree after I was born. She and my uncle took turns watching me between their classes. I am told I was quite the lady magnet for my uncle.
