At 19, I am a single mother. My child like face along with my young daughter never seem to go unnoticed in public.
At first, the whispers and the glares were too much for me. Everything I did was seen as wrong by society. The baby cried? "Well what did she do wrong". There was a constant flow of "you shouldn't do this" and "you shouldn't do that". For a while, I decided just to stay home.
Not anymore. I will no longer feed into the stereotypes and judgements passed againt me. Becoming a mom is the best thing that has ever happened to me.
The people who make the comment about me being too young, or say things like "dont you know what a condom is", will probably never know that my little girl saved my life from an abusive relationship. She was my key to escaping. She is now, and will forever be, my number one reason for bettering myself. Without her existence, it's likely I would be dead.
I would like to thank all of you who have ever even looked at me as if you may not approve of my motherhood, as if it's even your place. You are my second favorite reason to better myself. I will not sink down to the stereotypes that society puts forth for me. I will succeed in life, with my daughter by my side.
In closing, I would like to take the time to praise other young mothers, and all mothers in general. The job we have of raising children is not an easy one, but I feel that with just a tiny bit of acceptance and a tiny bit of compassion from one another, we can make things just a tiny bit easier for eachother.
