Teen Trauma

     My daughter is pregnant. I’ve known for over a month now but have had some trouble getting used to the idea.

I have been worried about this happening since she was 15, and every year that went by without me becoming a grandmother was a year I was thankful for.

She is 23 now and has come a long way since her wild years, so I am grateful. I have nothing against becoming a grandma, except that it makes me sound old. I just knew that any younger would be a disaster for her and her baby.

There are no doubt plenty of teens who have babies and make good mothers, but they are not ready. Not in our society.

I believe from what I’ve seen of my friends and neighbors over the years that everyone goes through stages in life. Try as you might you cannot skip those stages. For instance, in the case of teen pregnancy I believe that those years which a teen has for being free and social come to a stop when the teen has a baby, and although the teen may settle down for a while, eventually she will, she must break free and go out and party. Only now she is leaving her baby with sitters or family and the child feels the impact. This is not good for a baby to have a mom that would rather go out than stay home.

It’s far better to get it out of your system and then settle down with a child. I’m glad that my daughter had years of freedom and I hope she’s ready to get serious now and settle down. I think she is.

Can anyone think of a younger sounding name than Grandma?