Motherhood at 14?

Jennifer - posted on 04/13/2010

Yeah that's what I thought when I saw it on a news discussion programme we have here called The Wright Stuff.

Emma - posted on 04/13/2010

Ok that's far more reasonable, she sounded like a nut job with the 14 year old thing

Jennifer - posted on 04/13/2010

Since she said this she has apologised and said that she just meant women should have babies earlier rather than leaving it until aged 35+ and finding you can;t have children or will need lots of IVF to do so.

Emma - posted on 04/13/2010

14 was a good age when our life expectancy was 40,
i can not believe anyone really thinks its a good idea to get knocked up at 14, im not being funny but it sort of implies she would need a much older man like in his 20's at least to support her as i don't know of many paper rout's that pay enough to support a kid and what job would a 14 year old farther get other than that, so she must mean older men. witch dose mean she is indirectly advocating paedophiles unless she want to change that to?
makes you wonder

Shavaune - posted on 03/02/2010

Girls are physically able to have babies at 14 but not mentally capable 50 % of the time. And their most definitely not financially capable without help from family! We USED to live in a society where "it takes a village" to raise a baby but we don't anymore. It's every man or woman for themselves in our society now. Promoting 14 year olds to have babies is just sick! I had a baby at 18 and my second at 19 and though I wouldn't change it for the world it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I had 2 more children in my late 20's and the difference was like night and day compared to what it was having a baby as a teen. Having a baby when your truly ready is soooo much better in every single way you can imagine!
Just cause you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD!

April - posted on 03/02/2010

if our bodies weren't meant to have babies at a young age, why don't we start our periods in our 20's?

i wouldn't advocate teenage pregnancy, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I always wished that I could have had my son at a younger age.

i am so afraid of having more children because i am almost 30 years old. I feel like i have "time" for one more child but that if i were to have a 3rd or 4th, I would run the risk of having a disabled child.

14 is quite a bit too young in my mind, but if there had been the right circumstances, i wouldn't have minded being 20.

Jennifer - posted on 03/02/2010

I think she was reallr irresponsible to say what she did. 14 year olds aren't meant to have sex nevermind have babies. Yes I think women should have children younger as so many have problems later on when they leave it too late. I'm 19 years old, yes a teen mam, but I'm married, we have our own house, my husband works full-time whislt I stay home and look after our son who's 3 months old =] However, whilst I don't think it's advisable to have children as young as 14, that doesn't mean the ones who do are bad mothers - in fact some are just as good or better than older mams! I admire them because I know I couldn't deal with looking after a baby whilst I was at school and they took the option of not aborting their baby (I don't agree with abortion except in the circumstance of rape). Yes biologically speaking the younger the better but not 14 years old...most girls aren't fully developed until 16-18 years and therefore their body can't take the strain. Also the rates of c-sections are higher in girls this age as their pelvises aren't big enough or havn't turned properly. In all yes it would be better if women did have babies earlier (not as early as 14), however, it all depends on your circumstances - whether you're financially stable, whether you're in a stable relationship etc. Teen mams get looked down on but at the end of the day people should concentrate more on the mother being a good mam rather than her age because there's bad mums of all ages!

Rosie - posted on 03/01/2010

physically it's not too great for a 14 year old to have a child. mentally not so much either. i know someone who got his girlfriend pregnant the very first time they had sex -with a condom- might i add, he was 13 and she was 14. she didn't even realize that she was pregnant until she was around 4 months, and then she had the baby full term, but it was 4 lbs. all the while, this guy had hidden the fact that his girlfriend was pregnant from his parents. he attempted to get a job, and he did, but 14 year olds don't really make good fulltime candidates. every bit of money he made he gave to her to support the baby, then 3 months later it died of SIDS. i know we don't know what causes SIDS, but i believe her age played a role in it, if not being the only factor.



what a cow to write something that makes it seem like it's ok to start spewing out kids at 14!

Erin - posted on 03/01/2010

Once upon a time we were raised with this in mind...as we are not any more, to think this is acceptable is simply against our social norms. Whereas I could have raised a child at 14 when I started having sex I would not have wanted to for nothing! Not being raised with becoming a parent at that age there are SOOO many things that I would have been lacking to be a good parent at that age! My brother had a kid when my sister was 15ish and it looked funny as hell to see her carry that baby! I couldn't imagine if it were hers!!!

Sara - posted on 03/01/2010

Perhaps physiologically we were meant to have babies as teenagers, but up until the last century or so we didn't live very long either, and I think that has to be taken into account. In our society, 14 year olds and most teeenagers aren't ready for babies. Period.

Lady - posted on 03/01/2010

Just because they have started their period and can fall pregnant doesn't neccesarily mean that physically they are ready to have babies. Teen mums generally have terrible labours and births because their bodies are not developed enough yet to cope. And maturity wise there is no way the majority of teens are ready to become parents not to mention financially. What a stupid and irresponsible woman she is.

Ashley - posted on 03/01/2010

Wow... I guess she wants Britain to keep the highest percentage of teen mothers. I think it is irresponsible of her to say. Unless we go back to "selling" our daughters for a dowry while they are young to older men, she should keep her ridiculous ideas to herself.
I agree Sharon. Just because she couldn't have kids young doesn't mean everyone should. Are we to change our schools? Or should girls not go to school? Should we be made to stay at home, help our mothers run the house and then get pawned off to the highest bidder to become a young prized bitch ripe for breeding? I think not.

Isobel - posted on 02/28/2010

hmmmm...I suppose physiologically she has a point. We are physically designed to have babies as teenagers. Our society, however runs differently...In OUR society, we hope that our babies are born to stable parents in stable relationships. We believe that a child has a better chance (in our society) if the parents are able to provide the basic necessities of life...perhaps those who wish to become parents at this age should move to a society where having babies at this age is a viable possibility.