Nope. Realistic. Childbirth is awful, and raising children is hard, hard, hard. A sixteen-year-old is not well-equipped, socially or mentally or emotionally. I'm not saying that a sixteen year old girl can't raise a child, but it really isn't a great situation. Even older women usually don't have much of a clue about what it's really like - they have an idealised view of childbirth and motherhood. I'm not exempt. I've seen many of the horrors that childbirth has to offer, and seen many of the difficulties experienced by friends who have children. Yet still I have this little belief that when it's my turn, everything will be okay, and I'll have perfect, healthy babies who'll sleep at night and not get sick, and not hate me when they're teenagers. But I'm old enough not to base any life-changing decisions on such fantasies.
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Date: 2008-06-20 12:53 pm (UTC)Nope. Realistic. Childbirth is awful, and raising children is hard, hard, hard. A sixteen-year-old is not well-equipped, socially or mentally or emotionally. I'm not saying that a sixteen year old girl can't raise a child, but it really isn't a great situation. Even older women usually don't have much of a clue about what it's really like - they have an idealised view of childbirth and motherhood. I'm not exempt. I've seen many of the horrors that childbirth has to offer, and seen many of the difficulties experienced by friends who have children. Yet still I have this little belief that when it's my turn, everything will be okay, and I'll have perfect, healthy babies who'll sleep at night and not get sick, and not hate me when they're teenagers. But I'm old enough not to base any life-changing decisions on such fantasies.