Young Mums; Breaking the Stereotype

Some people (note the "some") look at a young girl walking down the street with a young child or baby and assume everything about her based only on the fact she has a child.

What comes to mind when the words "young mum" are uttered? Most likely a image of tracksuits, cheap cider, and cigarettes, possibly a rickety buggy. Now I want to make the point that there's nothing wrong with a mum enjoying a light drink or cigarette, I know that after a day filled with a teething baby, who's just had immunisations, a tall glass of wine is a relief! Nevertheless, that is the image that comes to most people's mind, after all, it wouldn't be called a stereotype if there wasn't a certain image that came to mind. That image is one that's been drilled into our minds by the media, mainly The Jeremy Kyle Show! It is a false image, one that has villanised a young girl who possibly by choice, possibly not, is just trying to raise their baby the best they humanly can.

Anyone who has had the joy of bringing life into the world knows how amazing yet utterly draining it is. Yet that doesn't make it any less worth the look you gain from your little one after showing them a simple smile. Despite popular opinion, us young mum's (yes, sharpen your pitch forks and break out the condescending advice, I am indeed a young mum) don't find it a whole lot harder than older women who have children. We all have our struggles, we have all lived live before our babies (granted some are more interesting than others), so why do people assume that if you're under 25 that you're going to fall flat on your face in the world of motherhood?

Picture a 30-year-old business-woman and her successful husband, their little one covered in the food they so desperately aimed to keep in her little gummy mouth. Now if anyone saw that they would probably coo and make a comment on how "kids will be kids", yet put a 16 year old mum in that "ideal" couples place and she will I guarantee she will receive eye rolls and scoffs! Why is this?

I know firsthand what it's like to get these looks. One day I thought my daughter was sick; I say thought because it was all a ploy of hers to test whether or not I was capable of handling a heart attack but I digress...In my haste to get my "sick" daughter to the doctors, I left her in a CLEAN sleep suit and threw on anything I could find. Despite how fast I ran up that street, I somehow had time to note the judging glances that were thrown my way. I don't think to this day I'll ever understand why. Was it because she was in a sleep suit? Because I wasn't dressed "nicely?" Or because I let her get sick in the first place? All these things would not of been on my mind if was ten years older, I guarantee it.

Every mum makes mistakes but it's only the mistakes of younger mum's that are noted! You raise the baby into a lovely child who uses her manners, eats, sleeps, and looks like an angel not one person bats an eyelid, or congratulates you on your success in conquering the mountain that is motherhood! However, if said child gets head lice or bags her head (most likely doing something you told them not to do 1,000 times) and oh boy, you're in for it from the world! My mum was 27 when she had me, and regardless of being an older mother, she dropped me twice (something which three months in I've managed not to do yet, go me!) And I turned out fine...ish. I guarantee that her doing so did not come with the backlash that it would if I, at 18, dropped my daughter! I'm not saying that we should all be allowed to drop our children, god no! All I am trying to say is cut young mum's slack, we all mess up, even perfect the business-woman mum and her successful husband.

I'll leave you with this to consider. Next time you see a young mum, don't look at her's or the baby's clothes, the pram, or anything as materialistic as that. No. Look at the smile on that baby's face and know that that mum is doing a kick-arse job!