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I wasn't a teen parent, but close enough. I got pregnant at 22, not married to the father who I had been with only a brief time (we've been together ever since). I was not a teenager, nor a drop out. I had recently graduated from college, but nonetheless, I was treated with such a sense of dread and horror by others. I remember people apologizing to me, seemingly attempting to confirm just how tragic my situation was.

I was shocked that even a level-headed, degree-holding, job-having 22 year old was treated much in the same way I imagine a teen mother is treated when they hear this news from the school nurse. The first question I was often asked was when we were getting married. In this day and age, I found that ridiculous.

Perhaps if we stopped treating those who get in this situation with such pity and tragic awe, they would feel more capable of the task ahead of them. It took a great deal of self-confidence for me to get through those 9 months with the belief that I (and my baby and her father) was going to be alright. I imagine for a teen, in high school, maybe even college, under their parents' wing, this is probably magnified to degrees that have extremely negative effects.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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