Age and Parenting
 

Do you think age has anything to do with being a good parent? Do you have kids? If so, how old were you when they were born?

Personally, I believe that age doesn't have anything to do with being a good parent. To me it's the maturity level of the people in question. I know of some older people who are crap parents, and I know of some teenagers who are amazing parents.

I just had my baby this past September. I turned 24 the month after she was born.

i do believe age has something to do with being a good parent.
to extreme circumstances such as very young people having a baby, then i do not believe all of them are fit to be parents.

and i'm talking about 12-16 year olds. lol.
i don't feel they have the experience to handle a child.
nor do i think they have had enough freedom to live their lives to enjoy that child without feeling a little resentment.
even though the only blame came be laid on the parents of the baby.

/rant
:heart:

Oh well yeah, I wasn't meaning children. I was meaning teenagers and up. If you're 16 and have a baby most people assume you're a horrible parent when that could be far from the truth. Of course at that age you have to depend on someone else helping you out financially and such (ie. grandma etc) and that to some people looks bad, but then again so do I. My husband financially supports cupcake and myself.

ps. you are the perfect age to be a mommy.
my mama was the same age. <3

Thanks mausy <33
I get crazy looks all the time when I'm out and about with cupcake. As you know, I look really young. I don't look my age at all. The stares get really bothersome at times.

thirteen year olds are teenagers. <3
but i know what you mean!
and yes i've been with cupcake and had the same looks directed at me.
that's when i want to tell em to fux off and mind their own business.
you can't judge meee!

@maus: I think you and I are just getting too old. Did you know kids born in 1992 are 18 and can buy a pack of smokes? I did a double glance at the smoke shop sign the other day. @_@;;

Anyways, you know what I meant sillybutt. For some reason I care what people think when they look at me and it really bothers me to be judged as something I'm not, but that's a whole other topic. Sometimes I wish I didn't look so young (but I'm still going out to buy age defying creme because I'm scared to death to look older). Baw haw.

@bulba: no way, jose~ her real name isn't going to be mentioned on this site. she is referred to as cupcake.

dildosaur!!!
no her kid isn't named cupcake; haha that's a nickname from a best friend of ours.
she doesn't want to post real names in threads.

stern,
i don't feel old yet.
:P
and you need to quit giving two shits about what others think.
THAT will make you age. lol.

@maus: seriously, tell me about it. zombie said that the reason i have headaches all the time is because I'm always so stressed out (and over silly things, like what people think about me because I look so young and have a kid, among other things). Sigh. I dunno. i don't think I could stop caring, though.

@bulba: lol yeah wow. I know a girl who named her kid princess. :no:

Yea I agree, of course not having kids and acting mature is good too.

Rant here, I got fired from a job about 2 years ago, just because, they had to make up an excuse, that I was too young. It seemed unfair since the other girl that worked there was just about 2 years older than me, but she had a kid. Which really ticked me off and I said, "So do I have to get a one night stand and get a kid to keep this job then? So you'll think I'm mature, when I keep telling you guys I am for my age?"

Eh guess people judge on looks sometimes before maturity.... ;=;''

haha. princess is terrible.
gosh.
as is apple and coco.

sternie,
yea you should stop.
stress leads to so many medical complications if you're constantly stressed.
which you are.
i don't want anything to happen to my sister. <3

sephy,
isn't that discrimination?
or do you live in a just cause state?

Yea i could have sued them for that, but once I left, their business ran out. hehehehe karma I say muahahaha! Since I know I don't believe in it much, but real bad stuff happens when people just really piss me off. O_=

@sephy: That's crazy! I'm confused on why they would fire people based on age. They're not allowed to do that!

@bulba: LOL, woooow. My mom wanted to name me Arwen. I wouldn't have had a problem with it, but eh oh well. And thank you for the half year birthday wish!! She's a sweet pea.

@maus: Agreed. I also know a girl who named her son Lego Flowerpants. I'm not even kidding. I actually like that name though, and she's an awesome person.

I know. You're the one that told me about stress causing cancer, etc. I really need to learn how to chill out and just live my life the best way I can. I think we're straying far off of topic now, though.

Being a parent isn't about age. It is harder for younger (Teenagers) to be parents though.

I do believe that age does have to do with parenting! That is because older people usually have more knowledge just from experience. The younger people tend to, i don't know exactly. But if you do have a kid at age 16, then you usually don't have much knowledge. If you have it that young, you are pretty much throwing away your entire life. So that is kind of why I believe what I do.

My parents had me straight out of college.
Let's just say that my oldest brother, sixteen, got caught smoking weed with his friends. My parents only laughed at him and told him "Learn to sneak". My dad is a troll, and my mom has been wearing my clothes since I was fourteen. They are seriously teenagers and I take care of their kids more than they do. ):

I don't know.. My friends are slowly figuring this out about them.
Kinda embarrassing.

EDIT::
Ohai. I'm not planning on having kids until I'm in my late twenties. School has to come first and my boyfriend&I will end up just like my parents because we're so childish. x.x Hell, we still giggle when they say "penetrate" on tv.

the real nikki..
i plan on doing the same. waiting until i am done with school. i should be in my early thirties by then. @_@
though my parents had me when they were twenty two and twenty four, it didn't prohibit them from being mature and responsible parents. i think it is all about the person whom you are referring to when assessing this kind of situation though.
since my parents are only twenty two to twenty four year older than me we have a much closer bond than most of my peers have with their parents.
and i wouldn't trade that for the world.
i wish i have this kind of relationship with my children because it makes the subjects that are usually hard to talk about very easy to bring to the table.

With most my friends age has improved their parenting... Except one of my friend just blows that out of the water. It's like the older she gets the younger she acts and barely pays attention to her kid. =/

I agree to an extent, and I do think that it varies from person to person; everyone matures at different rates, and having a baby means that you have to mature... unfortunately, not everyone rises to the challenge.

My cousin was only 19 when she had her (unplanned) son, and although it clearly has been very hard on her, she's a fantastic mum. She puts everything she's got into raising him, often making some pretty huge sacrifices herself.
On the other hand, I volunteer at a support group for teenage mothers. Some of them are great parents, and some are... more than just a little immature, to say the least. I find that the girls that had babies extremely young (13-15) tend to be the ones that worry me the most, but that's just a generalisation, I'm sure not every very young mother is like that.

And I know hat you mean with looking young!
I was 22 when I was pregnant with my daughter. She was planned, I was married, my husband and I both had completed our university degrees, were doing well in our chosen careers, had a good income and a nice house in a nice area... but I'm only 4'11" and I have a young face, so often people would look at me and assume I was a teenage mum carrying an unplanned baby.
I even once had a woman on a bus ask me "...and does the father know?"
"Yes, my husband's noticed the giant bump." Thanks for making that kind of negative assumption. /rant

I don't really think age has much to do with parenting...expirence does though...
Before my -adorable- nephew was born, I had no idea you had to burp a baby or how to change diapers. Now I can take pretty good care of him. Better than my stepdad with 5 kids.

I still don't like little kids that much... I have to have been around them for a long time.

I believe maturity is a big requirment for raising a child. I also believe that having a baby at a young age isn't a very good idea. You loose your life, literally. I believe that having a baby should be with somone you love and atleast when the women is out of school. That way she will be able to provide for herself and her baby.