Babies Raising Babies – is it BETTER to be a teen parent?

The phrase ‘teen parent’ is almost guaranteed to invoke stereotypical images: Teenaged single mothers, teenaged dead-beat dads, low socio-economic groups, unskilled, jaded, defeated and probably bad parents.

But are we jumping to conclusions too quickly? Is it better to have your children when you are young?

A young parent, particularly a young mother, is a lot more likely to have a healthy baby: Sperm and egg are both much ‘fresher’ during the teens and early twenties and the mother’s body is far more able to cope with the physical stress of pregnancy and childbirth. Her breastmilk will be richer, she will be far more likely to breastfeed in the first place (statistically speaking) which means her baby is likely to have a higher IQ, stay healthy for longer throughout its life and end up with a stronger body from which to produce his or her own healthy children. These are not just guesses – they are facts based on years of evidence collected by interested researchers.

A young parent simply has more energy. He or she is better able to cope (physically) with the sleep deprivation of babyhood, the constant motion of a toddler and the sheer weight of a sleeping child who needs to be carried to bed.

A young parent is more likely to play rough with their babies. This may have you reaching for the phone to call Child Services, but repeated studies show that if a baby is not played with vigorously (being thrown in the air – and caught! – or rolled around with on the floor) their balance and motor skills will never be as good as they could be.

Despite our ageing population, and the accompanying increase in the age of being a first-time parent, the fact is that after 30 years old, the quality of the sperm produced by men and the quality of the eggs produced by women drops sharply, leading to a higher rate of chromosomal abnormality and other genetic disorders.

Evolution has not caught up with fashion, so Nature votes ‘Yes’ for teen parents.

That just leaves the social and emotional elements of becoming a young parent. Again, studies give us some surprising results: It is not being young that creates a hopeless parent, it being a lonely and unsupported parent. And that goes for parents of any age.

Young parents who have their babies in a supportive environment (think about the extended families of the New Zealand Maori for instance) are shown to be skilled, patient, calm and loving parents. Generally, these young parents stay at home with their babies for a few years before returning to high school, university and then the careers that they had always planned. Interestingly, in these cases, young parents tend to be more successful in their careers than their older counterparts: They have avoided the ‘Mommy Tracking’ that so many women have experienced after taking time away from their careers during their 30s to have a family. They also avoid the fatigue that a new father in his mid-thirties experiences as he desperately tries to adjust to his new life and still be productive in his job.

At the time when their colleagues are taking extended periods of time off to cope with the sleepness nights and life-changing dynamic of having a new baby in the house, many young mothers and fathers are celebrating the 13th, 16th or 18th birthday of their own children and are more easily able to balance the demands of family and work.

Renting an apartment in Paris is one way to alleviate the strain of being a parent, no matter what your age!

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