My mother has been a person who is always there for me no matter the day, the time, or the circumstance. One of the times that I needed a lot was once when I got sick, I was hospitalized for a long time, my mother slept with me, my mother fed me, and took care of me day and night. It was in the year 2018 or 2019 approximately in April, I was hospitalized for a week. My mother is a person who does not show her feelings very normally, but that time she expressed her pain for the situation and her love for me. Thanks to her I have been able to go out on many occasions, now that I am older we are always there for each other, no one is alone anymore, my mother always suffered a lot because she felt alone it was a difficult stage to be a mother. I always thank my mom for everything and always remember to reach out to your loved ones or with whom you always feel safe, you will never be alone.
What are the consequences of teen pregnancy? The article “Adolescent Health and Teen Pregnancy In The United States: A Progress Report” informs us about how many teenagers still face preventable behavioral and mental health problems, substance abuse, injuries, violence, obesity, and other challenges. Young people’s brains are still developing and do not fully resemble the brains of adults until they reach their 20s. Many times parents do not have enough confidence to talk to their children about sex or the care they should take to avoid this type of thing. Having a child at such a young age will not bring such good things. Teen parents often face problems achieving their educational goals without the support they need-the result is depression, anxiety, and economic struggle.
In the article "Adolescent Health and Teen Pregnancy in the United States,” the author Evelyn M. Kapeeler mentions the challenges in which a young mother has that can affect them, their family members, and society. When young mothers face social criticism, they also experience depression, anxiety, and a lot of despair.Being a mother and dealing with these challenges as an adolescent is particularly straining as their “brains are still developing,and they do not fully resemble the brains of adults” (Kapeeler). This means they may lack the growth and experience necessary to cope with their emotions. Teenagers lose most of the support of their parents when they reveal their pregnancies. Parents do not communicate with their children about care in sexual relationships. This step by parents with their children is very important. Because such young mothers are often forced to put their goals aside,Their life becomes limited when raising a baby. They face economic risks. Without the proper care, they risk physical harm to themselves and their babies. Babies of young mothers tend to be born premature or with low weight to normal due to the mom’s amount of stress.
Many times, teenage pregnancy brings us many surprises and problems as well. The process of being a teenage mother brings many difficulties but enjoying the process when you have your child is a very beautiful stage. The difficulties that a teenage pregnancy can have come from health, economic, social, and personal in your dreams as a teenager. Teenage parents are almost always alone and that is when they learn to excel alone as they look for ways to do for their children. During childbirth, you can see many complications due to the health of the baby and the mother. In the same way, it can affect the mother mentally and see many changes in her. As my mother once mentioned to me, ”Waiting for you is the hardest and the most beautiful thing I've ever been through.”
Depression is a common mental disorder. This illness involves a lot of sadness, emptiness, and outbursts of anger or frustration. Depression is reflected a lot by being very lazy, stopping doing activities, often stopping eating, sleeping even sleeping too much, and feelings of guilt or self-reproach. Physically it can be reflected in pain including back and head pain. In this case, for mothers, it is postpartum depression that is caused by stress, hormonal changes, happiness at having a baby, and fear or anxiety at having a life in your hands. Studies have repeatedly shown that maternal depression is related to less optimal parenting and a less secure attachment between mother and child. Depressed mothers tend to be more inconsistent, withdrawn, intrusive, and ineffective in their parenting and discipline behaviors towards their children. Inadequate parenting and poor quality parent-child relationships, consequently, are linked to an increased risk of maladjustment among children. Children of mothers who suffer from postpartum and do not receive treatment are more prone to emotional problems or extremely bad behaviors. Even children may have problems eating, be excessively tearful, and delay language development. On the other hand, children also develop an insecure attachment with their mothers and have toxic relationships developed. Postpartum depression can often be controlled with medication, activities, therapy, and even social support. Mothers who suffer from postpartum depression must treat it immediately so that things do not go to extremes since many times it tends to affect that even mothers do not want to take care of their children or even see them. Let us take care of our loved ones who are going to have babies, let us monitor their behavior closely to be well and happy.
One afternoon I was very curious to know what my mother was like before she got pregnant. I wanted to know if she ever thought about it or if she imagined being a mother as a teenager. So when she was calm in my house’s living room I approached her and asked her "What was the biggest difficulty of your experience being a teenage mother?" From there we started to talk about the subject and her answer was "One of the hardest things about being a mother so young was the fact of having to stand up alone without support from anyone, also thinking about who would be with you and many times leaving you with nannies or your grandmothers so I could go far away to work."
It filled me with so much feeling since I almost don't remember anything from that time. My mother looked at me with her eyes full of sadness but at the same time happiness to have achieved so much after so much sacrifice. My mother is a very sensitive person with very nice feelings and although she doesn't always express what she feels, I can tell when she's sad by the way she acts, she always lowers her head or stares at something for a long time. So I asked her "Is there anything you regret?" and she answered me "Actually there is only one thing and that was to leave my studies, I could not continue with them, it was a very long process and I had to leave many things behind to be a mother but I will never regret having them, they taught me to value life and to know how to get ahead, despite being a mother so young I managed to get my life back and now I am happy with my children."
As we continued talking she told me about the great goals that she had in her life and how much she wanted to study her great career in accounting or border police. She desired to be very successful, she wanted to have her house and career before having children or getting married. Now she achieved it with a lot of effort even though she had her children and got married so young. Now having the opportunity to go to school and get her degree, made her see that it is never too late to do what you like the most and these were her same words "It is never too late to achieve your goals no matter how difficult it is, do not let anything bring you down, everything comes in its own time." This made me very happy because if she could handle so many things and responsibilities, It shows that I can do that and more.
Something I remember a lot is not having valued my mother when I was younger because I complained a lot about why she was never there, without realizing that she only sought everything to give me the best. Many times I was rude and I didn't even want to go to school when she had to leave to get the best for me. Now I know how much she sacrificed and I will always be grateful to her. Despite being a mother so young, she never let us down. After all, I hugged her and gave her a big kiss thanking her for everything.
My mother, despite having been such a young mother, was able to overcome problems and was always there for me. In one of the most difficult moments of my life, which was when I got sick and was hospitalized for several days, from then on I knew that no matter how much your mother suffered, your mother would never let you suffer or be alone without feeling love or company. Depression or postpartum depression, which is what many women suffer from, is one of the most horrible things that can happen, especially during pregnancy. This makes you stop doing many things for yourself including taking care of your health, your goals, etc. This was the case with my mother Vanessa, who was alone most of the time during her pregnancy and it made her feel heartbroken. According to my mother, being alone is not good when you are going through a very complicated situation. One of the most difficult things about being a young single mother is that it does not mean that you cannot achieve your goals. Always remember that achieving your goals is up to you and that it should be your priority, no matter what. Many times things will be complicated by the situation of being a mother and raising your children, but it is always possible.
Works Cited
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Britain, Where Contraceptives Are Free and Sex Education Has Long Been Taught in the Schools, the Rate of Teen-Age Pregnancies Is About Half That of the United States. but a Crusade to Halt the Dispensing of Birth Control Pills to Teens Is a Topic of National Debate and Has Wound Up in Britain's Highest Court.: [Sun-Sentinel Edition]." Sun Sentinel, Sep 09, 1985. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/docview/389738020?accountid=38876&sourcetype=Newspapers
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Report.” Public health reports, PubMed Central, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4388214/ Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.
Lively, Kit et al. "Parents' Survey: Sex Education a Must in School: [3 Star Edition]." Orlando
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Childbearing and Older Sister’s Teenage Pregnancy on a Younger Sister.” BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 16, 120 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-016-0911-2. Accessed 16 Oct. 2024.
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