Around 1% of teenage girls under 17 have babies. Children of teenagers are more likely to be premature or have low birth weight, but getting help from their own parents and from friends can solve many of the issues teenage parents face. Read about one teenage parent, and about the challenges facing teenage parents all over Australia.
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Pippa was 17 when she had Bessie. When her boyfriend left, three months later, she had to go back to work and put Bessie in care. Pippa is now 25 and Bessie is 7. They live in Melbourne, Victoria.
Pippa
‘I had just broken up from a two-year relationship with Bessie’s father when I found out I was four months pregnant. I was 17 at the time. Although we tried to get back together, it just didn’t work and we didn’t see each other for most of the pregnancy. After Bessie was born, her father made contact for the first six months, but after that, he just disappeared and I haven’t seen him since.
‘I had a full-time job at the time and three months after Bessie was born, I returned to work. I had to. I didn’t have any support from my parents and Bessie went into child care. I had already been living out of home for a while and my parents freaked out – we didn’t have the best relationship at the time.
‘I coped because I had to. I didn’t have much help except from friends. But I didn’t find parenting as difficult as some people made it out to be. The hardest part was dealing with so many different bits of expert advice from books, other parents etc. Everyone has a different view on how children should be raised and I learnt that you can’t panic, you just have to trust your instincts in the end. Mind you, I think if I had a baby now, I’d be much more stressed than when I had Bessie. When she was a baby and she got sick I’d think "oh she’ll be right" and she always was. I think now I’d be much more aware.
‘One of the hardest parts of bringing Bessie up has been dealing with other people being judgemental. I am aware that at school other parents gossip and I know that Bessie suffers from this, I’ve discussed it with her teacher, the bullying and teasing from other kids. Sometimes I worry about how this is affecting her, but I guess all kids get it in some way at some point in their school lives.
‘At the end of the day though, we have a very special relationship. We are very close and we have excellent communication and Bessie understands that she can talk to me about anything if she wants to. My relationship with my parents has also improved a lot and they now play an active role in her life, which makes me just so happy.’
Teenagers get pregnant for all kinds of reasons. But they are more likely than older women to fall pregnant because they don't use birth control (they may think, 'I'll never get pregnant') or because they have romanticised ideas about having a baby.
Some teenagers are more likely to have a child than others, such as those teenagers who have:
Being a parent can make it harder to get an education or find a job. Juggling the responsibilities of being a parent with work, school and a social life can be tiring. It can also be very difficult to get child care, and almost impossible to get affordable child care. For more information see Work & Family. These difficulties can make it hard to cope financially and can make parents feel lonely and apart from their family and friends.
On the other hand, teenage parents can find they have all the energy in the world to keep up with toddlers. They can also be better than older parents at dealing with the new lifestyle of being a parent; they're much better at dealing with little or no sleep, for example. But young parents who are still physically developing while pregnant can struggle with sustaining two growing bodies at once.
Some teenage parents might feel like they are so busy trying to cope with the rest of their life that they can't give their children enough attention. Because they might also have to worry about finishing their education or working or finding a job, they might not feel as though they can enjoy their children or feel as satisfied as much as older parents.
If you are a teenager and a parent, there are ways to help yourself and your child. Getting support from your family and friends and services in the community can help you cope with being a young parent.
Centre of Community Child Health (2004). Parenting information project, vol 2: Literature review. Department of Family and Community Services.
Collins, K.C., & Chacko, M.R. (2002). Adolescent parenthood: Role of the paediatrician. Children and Youth Services Review, 15, 295 – 308.
Klein, J.D. (2005). Adolescent pregnancy: Current trends and issues. Pediatrics, 116(1), 281 – 286.
Moore, M.R., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2002). Adolescent parenthood. In M.H. Bornstein (ed), The handbook of parenting, 3, 173 – 214.