Tuesday, September 13, 2011
So much Hate for teen moms?
I've been stared at, "spoken" to and lectured. I was fed up one day and decided to find answers as to why strangers and especially other mothers treat teen moms like second class or with such disrespect.
On Twitter I follow a mother by the name Rene. Rene is the creator of Good Enough Mother(G.E.M) a website dedicated to mothers and their perfectly imperfect parenting techniques. On her site she has a section entitled "ask Rene" so I did. I asked her why there is so much hate for teen moms and sent in this letter:
Dear Rene,
I am 21-years-old and have a
five-year-old daughter. Whenever we go out I get people looking at me as
if I have personally offended them by being a teen mom; some have even
had the nerve to lecture me! They say I selfishly placed a burden on
society and my DAUGHTER. I don’t get that at all.
I was with ONE person, got pregnant
and maintained a six-year relationship with the father of my child
before I decided that the relationship was no longer healthy for the
three of us. I stayed in high school and was a full-time employee,
mother, fiancé, step-mom, housekeeper, student and daughter; I
even graduated with HONORS. I went on and earned my Associates degree
and now I’m pursing my Bachelors.
I am not trying to sound like I’m
the poster child for teen moms or make it sound easy, because as we all
know being a mother at ANY age is difficult to say the least. However,
why don’t “adult” mothers got the same RUDE treatment that I receive for
no reason and why are “adult” mothers often the ones that dish it out
the most? Shouldn’t a mother get the same respect REGARDLESS of age?
In the end we are all trying to do
the same thing; raise healthy, happy, successful children. So why all
the hate toward teen moms?
Please help because I am at a loss.
Teen Mom NYC
A few days later Rene responded to my questiong, posted it on her site and opened the floor for her readers to weigh in as well. To read the reply and the comments click -->here
Be sure to check out the site in its entirety is has really great info and stories!
Thank you for reading!