Long live Queen Bey—er, Empress Bey!
tikiii
tikiii
I reckon being left alone with 2 kids at the ripe old age of 21 isn't exactly a swimming pool of chocolate-dipped diamonds, Alice. I'm sure this is the shittiness to which Kenneth refers.
I had a baby at 16. Because of the support of my family, I was able to obtain two degrees and now work in the public policy office of the most well known pro-choice nonprofit in the world. My now 13 year old is an absolute dream and is starting high school this fall! I was a wreck when I was 16 and I made it…
How could I forget the childcare assistance?! Invaluable.
because, Moms are magic ?
Yes! Me too. WIC, food stamps, and assistance for child care while I got my Masters. I have no complaints paying my fair share of taxes for these programs now, because these programs WERE my bootstraps.
Let me helpfully pile-on: I did something VERY similar to this woman in that I got pregnant at 19 while a freshman in college, worked two minimum wage jobs to support myself and The Deadweight, was on food stamps, Medicaid for the kids (I had one more a year later - Pentecostal Christianity ladies and gents) and WIC.…
Seconded. My family was a beneficiary of WIC when I was a child, as we lived in low-income housing. My Mom worked a job to support us while Dad finished school. My Mom is now a well-respected PM earning a very good salary, I finished university and work in IT, and my brother graduated from Yale Law School.
Yay motivational moms! Mine got her PhD while I was in school and my sister was a toddler.
Where does it say that she never used any government programs?
Who is to say she wasn't able to achieve this through help from government programs? I know several single mothers who work and go to school, and they receive SNAP benefits and grants for schooling- AS THEY SHOULD. Just because she worked doesn't mean she was making enough to support her child, and it doesn't mean she…
Thank you!! I was so annoyed no one had thought to politicize this story yet.
Why is not possible, in your mind, to provide institutional/social support AND encourage hard work and dedication? Because, ideally, we'd have both. First you'd have to admit that the current "system" (such as it is) doesn't work, and you'd have to acknowledge the deep social, political, and economic problems that put…
Had a baby during my sophomore year in college and I am now thriving with 2 happy kids, great job, and a wonderful man. Tell her to keep pushing forward!
@ Ariahead, please tell your niece to check out http://noteenshame.tumblr.com/, for inspiration, for support, and for a ray of hope! She is not alone!!! She has a wonderful source of motivation now, and I have faith that she'll do just fine :)
My ex-boss and dear friend has an amazing teen mom story. Had her son very young and raised him as a single mother. Just finished her Ph.D in Public Health and landed her dream job. All before 35. She is absolutely amazing.
We need to stop telling women that having a baby young will ruin their lives. It most certainly will not. Will it make things much harder? Yes, of course, but not impossible. I know so many women doing their PhDs in my department (engineering) who have young children at home. It's not a cakewalk, but it's doable…
I met a couple of professors that had their kid at 15!!! And they both have PhDs now.
My niece is sixteen and pregnant and I have been so upset and scared about her future. This story gives me hope that she will follow through on her plans to get a higher education and do something great with her life. She has more reason to now than ever. She has little person that she is gonna have to support soon.…
There's a lot to think about in this story, including how we treat teen (or young and single)moms and how much a college degree is really worth. Lots of people are smart, shrewd, talented, and hard-working, I'm glad she got the opportunity to prove it. Good for her.