In this story, since the girls appear to be from a relatively well-off (or at least middle class) community, the usual pat answer about urban teen pregnancy - they just want the welfare cheques - cannot even awkwardly be seen to apply. Of course, that broad accusation, while it may be true in specific cases, has never rung completely accurate with me. I remember reading a girl saying something along the lines that "working at McDonald's I'm nobody, but with a baby I'm somebody. I'm somebody's Mother."
I know personally a young lady who got pregnant at 18 (yes, technically an adult, but only two years older than these girls) who, when she is honest with herself, admits it was to win her mother's respect. Her mother was furious with her at first, but once the baby was born, her mother had to respect that she was also now a mother - in an important way, she had become her mother's equal.
It's also possible that these girls have considered early child-bearing as an alternative: instead of pushing off family for 20 years and attempting to concieve as they push 40, why not have the babies young (which some studies suggest is more healthy for both mother and child) and still be relatively young and healthy when the kids leave home. You can start a career at 36 and possibly be in the same spot at 50 that would have realistically been in (as a woman) had you started at 22.
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Date: 2008-06-20 10:20 am (UTC)I know personally a young lady who got pregnant at 18 (yes, technically an adult, but only two years older than these girls) who, when she is honest with herself, admits it was to win her mother's respect. Her mother was furious with her at first, but once the baby was born, her mother had to respect that she was also now a mother - in an important way, she had become her mother's equal.
It's also possible that these girls have considered early child-bearing as an alternative: instead of pushing off family for 20 years and attempting to concieve as they push 40, why not have the babies young (which some studies suggest is more healthy for both mother and child) and still be relatively young and healthy when the kids leave home. You can start a career at 36 and possibly be in the same spot at 50 that would have realistically been in (as a woman) had you started at 22.