Teen mother experiences joys and struggles

By Twyla McLachlan
Port Hardy Secondary School
Port Hardy, British Columbia

This year has been one of the hardest years of my life. I am a fifteen year old girl. I am different from the rest of my grade - I am a teen parent. I have a thirteen month old son.

I still remember the dreaded day when I had to tell my parents that I was about to have a child. My parents didn't know what to say, and they didn't talk to me for a couple of days. I was eight months along, and I was so unprepared for what the future was holding for me. My parents and I had to go to a bigger city three weeks before I was due. While I was down in Nanaimo, I had a chance to talk to some adoption agencies and the doctors, but I was not satisfied with what they were telling me. I would only get pictures of my son and I would only get to see him a couple times a year. That just didn't work for me. On September 28, 1998 at 6:00 am, we went to the hospital so that the doctors could induce labour. That night at 10:43 pm, my son arrived weighing in at 9 pounds and1.5 ounces. My life had just started.

There are some times that I wish it never had happened like when my son is sick and cranky. don't know what is wrong with him, he is crying, I am getting frustrated and all I want to do is cry with him. Teen parenting definitely has its disadvantages over being a regular teenager. When I want to go out to a big party and I can't find a sitter, it is frustrating to know how much fun all of my friends are having while I am at home with my son. One thing that happens to all parents is their children get up during the night sometimes at 2 am and again at 4 am. Some times they don't go back to sleep, and all they want to do play. My son started to sleep through the night when he was 12 months but he still gets up once in awhile.

Some teens receive allowance and they can spend it on anything that they wish. I don't get allowance. I get money from the government and my day care is provided. Any money that I do receive I spend on diapers, milk, lunch stuff, clothes for when Logan gets too big and medicine. At the end of the month, I don't even have enough money to get myself anything like a new pair of jeans or a new shirt or a pair of shoes. Everyone tells me that my life is so easy. It's not that I don't have any spare time. Some of my spare is spent on the ice. I play hockey for the Women's hockey team and the Bantam hockey team.

The good part about being a teen parent is the way you look at your child and the way they look back at you with their big loving eyes, showing just how much love they have for you. Also, when you go down to the park and push them on the swing they laugh because of all the fun they are having. The first time that they say their first word, all you want to do is call everyone because it is so exciting. The most memorable moment that I have is the first time that my son took his first step, and now we have to move everything up high and make everything so sturdy so he won't get hurt. I will never ever regret giving birth to the most important thing in my life: my baby.