Teen Parents... Success Stories
- May 7, 2017
- 4 min read
I was 15 years old and you guessed it, head over heels in love.
I could just envision spending the rest of my life with him and living happily ever after. Too sprung to think about anything else, I didn't pause to consider consequences of unprotected sex. At the age of 16 I had our first child, then at age 18 I had our second.
Neither of us had supportive families. We were on our own, I was going to school while my boyfriend worked. One of his checks alone did not cover our rent, so you can only imagine how strapped for cash we were. We struggled very much and could not see an end in sight. All we could do was simply keep moving forward and never stop.
I never considered the countless odds against us especially when we became teen parents.
Countless statistics of life after teen pregnancy are everywhere. Although it's not hard to see why, the point remains teen parents are out there, and we too need (or needed) advice.
Here are just a few teen pregnancy statistics from Do Something that should encourage abstinence or safe sex, at least until you are older and prepared for this life changing event.
According to research, 750,000 teen pregnancies occur every year, that means every 3 in 10 teen girls in the U.S. will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20.
More than 50% of teen mom's DO NOT graduate from high school.
Roughly 25% of teen mom's will have a 2nd within the 1st child's 24 months of life.
2% of teen mom or less earn a college degree by the age of 30.out of 10.
8 out of 10 teen dad's don't marry the mother of their child.
More than half of all mothers on welfare had their first child as a teenager.
For my boyfriend and I, our kids were here and it was time to focus on getting our lives in order. I'm blessed to say that in the end I did get my happily ever after. Beating many odds, he and I stuck it through and recently celebrated 18 years together and our 14 year wedding anniversary.
We often miss the teen parent success stories as they are overcrowded by the negative ones. However there are many positive. A child is not the end of the world but far from it. If at any time in your life you have to fight for what you want and secure your future, it is now!
Here are three inspirational stories of teen parents who overcame the odds.
Amanda Ray's family wrote her off when she became pregnant at the age of 14. Told she would just be "one of those girls", she had no reason to think otherwise, her home life was that of poverty and negative influences. Her child's father was not part of their lives, so if anything was to change in their lives, the responsibility would fall completely on Amanda.
At 16, Amanda had a full time job while going to high school. At 17 she graduated as class valedictorian. In order to attend college, in addition to her income, she received three scholarships for college fees and gave her that extra dollar to cover rent, light bills, books and other expenses.
At 25 Amanda was now a lawyer, she achieved a bright and secure future for both her son and herself.
"Even though the things I went through are painful, I can't change them. They'll go in vain if I can't share them to help others learn from them."
Luke Burbank was 17 years old and mid way through his senior year when his daughter Adelaide was born. Quickly learning how hard and stressful the job of parenting was, he knew he would figure it out. He and his daughters mother were no longer together and both quickly experienced financial hardships due to their new baby's expenses.
"It was terrifying, and I figured I'd ruined my life before it had even started, though I guess the being terrified part is shared by all fathers, regardless of age."
Luke did not pause his education or goals, he knew if he was to be a good father and be able to provide for his daughter, he could not set this aside. Although being a single dad was not easy for this teen dad, somehow through the chaos and fears, he learned to figure it out.
Luke looks back and reflects on these early years of his daughter's life and shares that somewhere in all the wet diapers and skinned knees, loose teeth and broken hearts, he realized that this was probably the only meaningful accomplishment of his time on this planet.
Luke's is a Radio Host and Pod caster. He can currently be heard on Portland, Oregon's syndicate show, Live Wire.
Nicole Lewis was a teen mom who fought against the impossible in order to overcome homelessness and a drug infested environment. With a strong determination to earn a degree, Nicole noticed that now that she was pregnant, people stopped talking to her about college. Many people went as far as to tell her she would never go to college or be successful in life.
"I started as a full-time freshman at the College of William & Mary in Virginia when my daughter was almost three months old. I was a poor, single mother, with maybe two or three outfits to my name and a hand-me-down book bag. I did not fit the mold of a traditional student on that campus. I felt out of place, awkward and foolish at times, but I did not give up. Four years later, I graduated with high honors in English. My daughter walked across the stage with me holding on to my graduation gown. She was three years old."
Like many of us, Nicole took notice that there is a lot of support for teen pregnancy prevention, but little to no support for teens to have a child. In 2010 she founded Generation Hope, a nonprofit that provides emotional and financial support to teen parents who are working to complete their college education in the D.C. area.
Comments