Young Motherhood
The Impact of Young Motherhood
Life throws a curve ball. Is it an obligation to tackle it or duck and ignore it? I learned at an early age that being a young mother was not just a job but a chance to become a responsible young adult. Being a mother at a young age has its perks and its downfalls. Already being a statistic as a young mother before marriage, women are expected to fail by the majority of society. Some people think a baby is a burden on a young person's life, but I believe a baby is God's opinion that life should go on. However, having a child at an early age can have a huge impact on a person’s future either positively or negatively depending upon the choices you make.
My mother became pregnant with me when she was 20 years old. I knew that I did not want that life for myself once I got older and realized what she went through during that period. However, in January 2010, my daughter Akira was born. Coincidentally, I was 20 years old and basically still a child myself having a child. While I did not plan on having a baby at an early age, I learned that being a young mother was not the end of the world. In order to over stand the “young mother statistics,” I was overwhelming myself working a full time job, taking 18 credit hours and trying to manage taking care of a newborn baby. Unfortunately, trying to do all this at one time, I ended up failing out a semester because it just got too hard on me. People around me warned me about taking on such a heavy load; however it was more of an ego thing. I had plans to finish college and become either a restaurant or hotel manager; however that is not the ideal career field for a single mother. With a non consistent schedule, open availability 24 hours and high travel percentage, it soon kicked in that a hospitality career was impossible with an infant. I read an excerpt from a book that expect the emotional effect it has on a child when their parent is busy with work and school and not really
Life throws a curve ball. Is it an obligation to tackle it or duck and ignore it? I learned at an early age that being a young mother was not just a job but a chance to become a responsible young adult. Being a mother at a young age has its perks and its downfalls. Already being a statistic as a young mother before marriage, women are expected to fail by the majority of society. Some people think a baby is a burden on a young person's life, but I believe a baby is God's opinion that life should go on. However, having a child at an early age can have a huge impact on a person’s future either positively or negatively depending upon the choices you make.
My mother became pregnant with me when she was 20 years old. I knew that I did not want that life for myself once I got older and realized what she went through during that period. However, in January 2010, my daughter Akira was born. Coincidentally, I was 20 years old and basically still a child myself having a child. While I did not plan on having a baby at an early age, I learned that being a young mother was not the end of the world. In order to over stand the “young mother statistics,” I was overwhelming myself working a full time job, taking 18 credit hours and trying to manage taking care of a newborn baby. Unfortunately, trying to do all this at one time, I ended up failing out a semester because it just got too hard on me. People around me warned me about taking on such a heavy load; however it was more of an ego thing. I had plans to finish college and become either a restaurant or hotel manager; however that is not the ideal career field for a single mother. With a non consistent schedule, open availability 24 hours and high travel percentage, it soon kicked in that a hospitality career was impossible with an infant. I read an excerpt from a book that expect the emotional effect it has on a child when their parent is busy with work and school and not really