babies having babies

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This is the time of year when our current students have to make the choice {for the next academic year} to either a. progress onto the next level of their course, b. begin a completely different course, or c. leave college and take up an apprenticeship, paid employment, a life of crime, or nothing. It's also the time of year when seventeen year old girls tend to suddenly discover they have a tiny little bun in the oven. Christmas must be fun for teenagers, no? Today a student told me she's expecting in October so she won't be back in September. This is a student who is a complete and utter nightmare. She's dyslexic and suffers from very low self-esteem, but what she lacks in confidence she makes up for in bolshiness. She can be really rude and horrid, and we are aware that she has an evil bullying streak. And yet, her wary excitement was so apparent in her face and her demeanour as she and her friend talked about it. Teenage Mummies do get such a bad press in the media. Because many of these teenage Mummies come from lower-class backgrounds and dysfunctional families, they are surely only getting pregnant and having babies because they want their own house, or they want to milk the benefits system?! {Edit: I don't believe this is true in the majority of teenage pregnancies, it is simply how the media often portray it, as the final sentence of this paragraph suggests.} Although this is obviously true in some instances, in the majority of cases it isn't. Many of these girls don't actively choose to become pregnant, but once they do it gives them a purpose they didn't have before. Seeing how this {often vile and obnoxious} girl-child was talking, listening to her worries and her excitement, made me realise that this could be the turning point in her life. And I hope it is. I genuinely hope that - with the support of her mum and outside agencies - she and her boyfriend make positive choices and create a safe and happy environment. Hope is all I can do ... the sad truth is that the cycle will probably continue and her baby will become the teenager she is now. But that little spark of vulnerability she displayed today convinced me that she will at least try to be the Mummy that her own mother isn't. And the best bit? I wasn't jealous. I think this is the first time I've received the news of someone else's impending babyhood without a jealous rage building up inside me. Perhaps my biological clock has finally stopped.