So Keisha Castle-Hughes is pregnant. Okay, I know having a baby is supposed to be a joyous event; I know she’s not poor; I know she’s been with this guy for three years.
But sixteen is sixteen. She’s got a lot of living still to do before she should be putting down roots. Has she completed her education? Has she accomplished enough in her acting career that she can afford to take time off? Is she really, truly mature enough to be a parent? Is the father mature enough? What does he do for a living – can he step up to the plate if her earning potential dries up? I just can’t help thinking that, even allowing for the fact that they won’t be living on welfare in a trailer home, this is not the best time in their lives to be starting a family.
And yes, I know there are people here who had babies at sixteen, or know people who have, who will have a different take on it. I’m just saying, sixteen is so darn young. IMHO.
Not that it makes a huge difference, but according to imdb, she was born in March 1990. That makes her 17 now, probably 18 by the time the baby is born.
Yes, too young. But money counts for a lot in terms of bringing up a child properly – hope she still has some ten years down the road. Odds are whe won’t have the boyfriend by then.
I have a friend that got pregnant when she was 17 and at the time I couldn’t have been more angry with her. Well, angry isn’t the right world- perhaps disappointed is better. She’s a smart girl with a generally good head on her shoulders and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was just throwing her life away. I, like her family and the rest of her friends, suggested that she get an abortion. But she didn’t.
Then I put some more thought into it and if I were in her position, I would have a REALLY tough time deciding between keeping the baby or not (not that getting an abortion is ever an easy decision). In the end, I realized I would probably do the same thing she’s doing. In fact, I started to pay attention to her actions a whole lot more and she really has grown up over the last 9 months. Hell, I even grew a ton more respect for her because she made a tough decision. Like I said, abortions aren’t easy but the choice she made does have implications for at least the next 18 years. She knows what she’s gotten herself into and, even though she’s reasonably scared, she’s doing her best.
Is it the best time for her to start a family? Of course not. I’d wager that half of us on this board weren’t born at ideal times for our parents. At this point, we have to just sit back and trust that the parents can rise to the occasion. I can’t speak for the lil’ actress, but in the case of my friend I think she can do it. She’s going to grow up a lot (even more than she already has), she’s going to learn a lot, and she’s going to be a better person for it. At least I hope .
I was thinking the same thing. Surprisingly enough, I can’t think of any recent young actresses (<18 yo) getting pregnant. Maybe they do and they all abort so we never hear about it.
Eh. Teen mothers have existed for as long as human beings have existed and it’s really not that big of a deal in my view. It doesn’t mean her life is over or that she can’t still work and go to school.
I am a medical student, and many of the women in my class are pregnant or already have kids. Getting through med school is not always easy even without the demands of a family, but it’s completely within reach for these women because our school is fortunately very supportive of parenting students and works with them on making sure they can stay in the program.
I think a lot of the problems that teenaged moms run into are self-fulfilling prophecies from things like when their families, schools, etc. don’t want to give them any help or support because there is such a social stigma on anything that could be seen as encouraging or condoning teen motherhood.
Parenting at any age is damn hard if you don’t have any support from others along the way, and I give a lot of credit to those young women who do somehow manage to make it work without any support. In this particular young lady’s case, I don’t see any reason for alarm just because of her age.
Well, yeah; I wasn’t stigmatizing it. What I was mostly concerned with was the parents’ emotional development. It’s entirely possible to be reponsible and capable at 17: changing diapers, making sure the kid doesn’t choke to death, bathing him and so forth. It’s other, more nebulous concerns that I’m not sure about: being patient with a colicky infant who’s been screaming for seven hours without a letup. Keeping your temper the sixteenth time he spits out his strained peas. Drawing lines like “inside voice” or “You’ve had enough TV for today.” Stuff like that.
I’m not sure I see the problem here. Plenty of women mix motherhood and education and a career. The child will be gone when she’s in her late 30s, an age when most people have 25-30 years of work left. She’s rich enough to hire help.
Well to the extent her money will mitigate this I semi-agree. When I think of the 5 problems with Teen Pregnancy two are probably not going to be big deals here:
• There are more health problems for the Mothers and Babies - usually this is because the mothers are poor and cannot afford proper prenatal care. Not the Case here.
• About 80 percent of children born to teens have unmarried mothers who have dropped out of high school and lack the education to attain high-paying jobs to support their families. Not the Case here.
However the other three bad things that I can think of associated with Tenn Motherhood are not necessarily mitigated by her money or her (perceived) higher status:
• Children of teen mothers often receive inadequate parenting. (the OP’s point)
• Children with adolescent parents often fall victim to abuse and neglect.
• Children of teenagers often suffer from poor school performance. Children of teens are 50 percent more likely to repeat a grade; they perform much worse on standardized tests; and ultimately they are less likely to complete high school.
I think the odds say, and sadly we have huge samples to get the statistics right, that this is probably a bad thing for her and her baby, despite her having more life experience than most 16 year olds… and realizing that all 16 year olds, like all people, have different strengths/weaknesses and maturity levels.
If we were all hunter-gatherer stone age types, this wouldn’t even be worth noting. By 16 she’d probably be on her second or third child, and be dead by 30.
My grandmother married at 15 and was pregnant and nursing for the next 15yrs. She was married to a subsistance farmer, neither had any education, they had no running water or electricity, barely any money.
Her children all grew to be sound adults and she lived to be 104 yrs old!
And so it was for hundreds of years and continues to be for the larger part of the worlds population today. It seems to me that teenage girls are more than capable of being effective parents, as necessity dictates.
I’m just trying to say don’t be so sure you know ‘what would be best’.
This is exactly the problem I see with it. Hollywood appears to be nothing but high school all over again. Angelina is having her baby out of the country? That’s what Britney should do! Angelina is adopting children from third world countries? I can’t believe Madonna waited this long to jump on the bandwagon! Jessica Simpson is getting married? Quick, Britney, Avril and Christina better snag themselves some husbands now, too! Stat!
All people do in Hollywood is copy each other. How long now until all the other teeny-bopper actresses decide they need to have a baby? After that, how long do you think before your average American teenager wants to take part in the trend?
Then, who’s going to pay the price when the fad dies out in a few years?
Well, I think that’s a bit unfair to Keisha. She should be free to make decisions–right or wrong–without worrying about what kind of role model she’s being. She was in one big movie. She shouldn’t have to be a saint for the rest of her life because of she happened to be a star when she was 12 (or however old she was). And teenagers have been having children since time immemorial. I don’t think she’s going to be setting any kind of “trend”.
I’m having a hard to judging this young woman. Are most 16-year-olds old enough to be good mothers all on their own? Probably not. But with support, I think they can be. As long as she’s got financial and emotional support–the kind that really any mother needs–then I think the predictions shouldn’t be so dire.
She will have to sacrifice her career and education at least for a few years…or maybe not. I don’t know if she’s rich, but I’m betting she’s not nibbling on anyone’s government cheeses. The good thing about being young is that she has the time and the energy to juggle self-development with child-rearing. If she’s got a good head on her shoulders, she’ll figure it out.
One way to look at it is that she’s setting a bad example. She had sex before marriage (the shock!) and has a baby bump as proof of it (too bad her male contemporaries are able to bask in their virginal innocence with nary a sign to the contrary). But she should also make pro-lifers proud. She’s keeping her baby. She’s taking responsibility for her “mistake”. She’s putting her career and education on the backseat to do something for another human being. Instead of casting judgement on her and other teenage mothers, people should be providing encouragement and support.
Even in those days, if you lived past infancy you probably had a fair shot at 50 or so. Not that it matters much.
It’s probably true that she’s in good financial shape to handle having a kid, but I just think 16 is too young. I have no doubt that there have been, and are, plenty of good teenage parents - but it just gives me the creeps.
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