How young is too young??

[An*Gel]

Am I getting old or are teenagers growing up too fast??... check this out.....

Dad at 13 | Boy Alfie Patten, 13, becomes father of baby girl Maisie with girlfriend Chantelle Steadman, 15 | The Sun |News

 

[angel fingers]

just saw it on the news, he looks like hes only about 10 or eleven really.

when the reporter asked him how he will provide financially, he said 'whats financially ?'

 

[An*Gel]

I know Susan, I think it's so sad.. the poor little kid (not sure if I mean the baby or the father at the mo to be honest):cry:

 

[angel fingers]

i agree, i just dont know what to think really.
it actually makes me feel a little bit sick. the thought of 2 children 'conceiving' a child.

lovely baby though isnt she. i wonder what will become of them all?

 

[xAnnaBannAx]

I hope im not gonna get stoned for this but when I saw them I thought it almost looked like child abuse on the girls part! I mean she is 3 years older than the lad and probably a fair few years mentally maturer than him as well.....his voice hasnt even broke yet ffs! what was she thinking!
I dont think i realised that lads were really fertile either before they hit puberty either! Its a sad situation for both but I cant help feeling really sad for the little lad cos he looks so babyish himself and I really hope he can still have some kind of childhood.

 

[gillian w]

Just awful isn't it.My son is 14 i can't imagine what he'd do with a baby he can't even look after his lizard .Whats more awful is that there are so many girls now of 13/14 having babies we hardly bat an eyelid when we hear of it now.
I just don't know the answer they seem to get enough sex education maybe its the wrong kind

 

[bubbabinks]

According to the news child services are going to stay involved to help support both families.
He (the lad) looks so tiny compared to the girl, he looks younger then some of the eight year olds at my daughters school.

Girls mature faster then boys so normally go for older boys.
I wonder if it was some sort of peer pressure?

I just don't understand their parents letting them be all over the news and posing for photos.
If it was my kids I wouldn't want them anywhere near the press, the situation is difficult enough without putting yourself out there under a public microscope

 

[gillian w]

I also worry with them being in the press getting all this attention and everything seems hunkydory that its not going to discourage others from doing the same.Having babies has become a vocation in a lot of young peoples lives they have them with less thought than they would get an animal and the country supports them and houses them but then if you have no aspirations,no future as such thats the only way to have anything.

 

[becki x]

I'm sure they will have been paid for the interveiw

He looks like a lost little boy,this is just one reason i agree with sex education in school from a very young age. It doesn't have to be about the act itself,but relationships,feelings and responsibility and knowing yourself.

It breaks my heart to look at them,and we're paying for them

 

[fozzyo]

Sex Education is schools is, frankly, pathetic! It needs to start really early in Primary School as Becki says about relationships, feelings etc.

The usual right-wing response is that sex education causes people to have sex and teenage pregnancies. Well all evidence to the contrary!!

Kids today are much more inquisitive and we live in a different society ... if kids want to have sex etc thats cool. But make sure they have the education and knowledge to make informed decisions. Despite what a lot in the press would like to think kids aren't stupid.

The attitude to sex (not just sex ed.) by members of the government, particularly the opposition and the press make me sooo angry!

I'm going to leave now and take a few deep breaths.

Mat xxx

 

[deanosnana]

A very sad situation. I just saw this story on my local news and it broke my heart.

 

[pure]

I was shocked when I saw this on the news. As others have said the 'little boy' looks so young, only about 9 or 10. |How on earth are they going to manage and what will become of the poor baby. Somehow I can't see this being a happily ever after tale.

 

[Bagpuss]

To be fair i don't blame the schools and don't even want the schools teaching my children about things that i feel are a parents responsibility.

Every time things go wrong its the schools fault....schools should be teaching about social behaviour...schools should be teaching about sex...schools should be teaching about crime...its a good way to let all those useless parents off the hook eh !

My children are my responcibilty....and IMO the parents of these children have let them down.

 

[beautyseeker]

I think its terribly sad for the two child/parents and the baby, what sort of life are they going to have.

I just do not understand their parents why did'nt they tell them about responsible sex?

I think that people are too ready to put the blame onto schools when it is a parents responsibility to teach their children the facts of life, etc.

Schools are there to educate your child so it can get a job not to be the childs parent. Some people are all to ready to negate their responsibilities onto other people and then blame society when it all goes wrong instead of taking the blame themselves.

I dont expect the school to teach my daughter how to behave in public thats my responsibility, and if she misbehaves she knows that there are consequences to be paid.

Too many children are not taught about the consequences of their actions.

Trish xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[tog]

It breaks my heart to look at them,and we're paying for them

Yes, and why should we?

Perhaps if the parents (who obviously haven't behaved at all responsibly) were made to support their new grandchild purely from their own pocket, they would have taken more notice of what their kids were up to and prevented this situation from happening in the first place. There's no financial deterrent to help prevent teenage pregnancies. I expect the mother will get a council house now.
If she was in the Netherlands, her parents would have to house her and finance her - and guess what? Holland has a far lower incidence of teenage pregnancies.
Unfortunately we seem to be creating a selfish underclass of people in the UK with no morals and no consideration for anyone else around them.

 

[jcpark]

Perhaps if the parents (who obviously haven't behaved at all responsibly) were made to support their new grandchild purely from their own pocket,

The parents are not working and already claiming benefits :irked:

I read that the parents actually approved of them sharing a bedroom - so sad.

 

[High Hopes]

It is the parents responsibility all the way! The only reason the school could have been partly to blame would have been if the child had been concieved in the playground !

I still think sex education is too down played in schools. They should be showing girls what pregnancy/childbirth is really like! Not like they show in films. Whats worse ? Upsetting a few teens for the day because they have seen something a bit shocking or this situation that these children find themselves in now.

Its also interesting to think about what may have happened or been said about the boy if the age gap had been the other way around.

 

[Ruby]

it said on the news today that a couple of other young boys are claiming to be the father of this baby .
How sad that this young girl has let herself be so abused what a terrible upbringing she must have to have no respect for herself .


Ruby

 

[becki x]

The parents should have been teaching these kids,but they weren't and now look at the consequences.

Schools are the only way to ensure ALL kids get the information and guidance they need imo.

We want cookery lessons brought back ,surely sex education is a life lesson that must be tought ............ far more important than rounders IMO

These families put such a strain on a country already going down the pan (and that's only one aspect of this nightmare).

I can't help feeling resenful towards people with no sense of responsibility.From 17 we have worked to pay for our son,our wedding and our house,we plan another child as we have savings,our home is now at risk of reposession due to lack of work,we shouldn't have bothered,we could have a cushy council house and the security of having a home now

That said i hope they are given every bit of help they can ,otherwise all 3 face a very bleak future

 

[An*Gel]

I'm gald I'm not alone feeling that way... I don't know about everybody else here (and it would be interesting to find out) but I had my sex education in school... at lunchtime in the playground that is

I honestly can't remember what age I was when I found out about the birds and the bees, but by the time my parents got around to having the
embarressing little chat with myself and my sister we were (in our opioin) "experts".
I think kids nowadays are GROWING UP WAY TOO FAST, but we have to be realisic here and start educating them from an early age about sex.

IMO I think it's the parents responsiblity, in saying this I would like to see some sex ed in schools too, but it should start in primary school.

A client of mine is a nurse and was only telling me the other day of the amount of young girls coming in with different symptoms and when asked if they could be pregnant they all give an adament "absolutely no way".
She says the story is always the same.. they are so SHOCKED when told they are, in fact pregnant... so why are they so shocked?.. it's because they, like me learned everything they know( and they know it all, remember) from their friends... this has to be addressed and fast!!

Now I'm off to have a little chat with my son.... he's 2 by the way:green: