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Father (13), Mom (15) & Their Baby (4-day-old)

Posted by SWARAAJ CHAUHAN, International Columnist in Miscellaneous.
Feb 15th, 2009 | Comments

teenage parents

The Huffington Post has a story about a teenage mom and dad (from the Sun of London) that has rocked Britain. Whatever be the outcry, the young mom and dad look very happy.

“Police said they had investigated but had decided to take no further action as it was ‘not in anyone’s interests’ to prosecute.”

Here is the full story…

Wikipedia states: “Child marriage has been prevalent in many cultures throughout human history, but has gradually diminished since some countries started to urbanize, changing the ways of life for the people of these countries.”

To know more about child marriages in different parts of the world, please click here…

Incidentally, Mahatma Gandhi was a teenager when he was married. To quote him: “We were both thirteen. … the wedding meant no more than wearing new clothes, eating sweets and playing with relatives”. More here…

Instead of merely sensationalising the story about teenage mom and dad, perhaps there is need to understand the changing sexual awareness/need among young kids. Was the old tradition of marrying kids young a practical way of channelising the sexual needs of the young?

For a more detailed academic study on the subject….please click here…

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saintixe

INTERESTINGLY
It would seem from what says the Beeb and other british networks the father might not be the father as the 15ys-old mom was promiscuous at same time of conception with at least 4 othet teenagers....
As here in the UK we are DNA tracking happy, we are in for more action to see...sigh
What it does not say is the poor level of education, poor social standards, mind goggling teenage pregnancy rate etc...
There is nothing wrong in sex, there is everything wrong if you practice something before reading and understanding the instructions.

adelinesdad

I'm not sure what's more disturbing, the story itself, or...

The fact that it has been so widely publicized (who's to blame for that I don't know) and made the subject of public criticism, speculation about the mothers sexual partners, and fuel for political debate (ie. sex education, but also including the question of child marriage brought up in the post). If the kids' or their families asked for this publicity, then there is even more reason to worry about the welfare of the child. If they did not ask for it, then leave them alone, let their families and social services help with whatever they can, and leave them out of the paparazzi culture and political debates. I'm not saying it shouldn't have been reported, but some restraint is clearly in order here.

Manchester2

I can no more imagine having been a dad at thirteen than having walked on the moon! Incredible, but one can hope that there is an extended family that will help raise this child. "It takes a village," indeed.

saintixe

wishing there was a village but looking from the reports all over the newsmedia here in britain, I am afraid ...NOT.
yes the child wellbeing is going to be footed...again...by the british taxpayers
possibly in the years to come, DNA testing will proveyoung mum memory may have been hazy when it comes to inflict fathehood on little alfie
meanwhile we live in this society where no one teaches girls can be cool and say no, when boys are un-cool when not using condoms and Bin Laden seems like very patriachal and common sense when ranting against our way of life
QUOS VULT PERDERE JUPPITER DEMENTAT...

StockBoySF

I was just reading about this.... seems that there might be eight possible fathers. The woman claims she lost her virginity to Alfie and doesn't sleep around.... Given that a couple of the fathers want DNA tests to prove parentage I think she probably did sleep with a couple guys. I think some of those eight just might be in it for "bragging rights" as teenage boys often do....

So I guess if the baby follows in her parents' footsteps the parents could conceivably be grandparents before they are 30.

RAMski

i don't know.. but younger are the ages who seem to be becoming more promiscuous these days... well, its good that they kept their child, at least they haven't thought of having it aborted.

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