Entry FeedA thirteen year old British Boy, Alfie Patten, just had a baby girl with his 15 year old girlfriend, Chantelle Steadman. The baby was conceived when he was only 12 years old. If you look at his picture, he actually looks about the same age and size as my 6 year old. Alfie is about 4 feet, which is actually smaller than my 6 year old! (Use the link below to read the article and see the pictures)
This means I could be 6 years away from being a grandmother. Something is very, very wrong. Honestly, I guess I was a little ignorant because I assumed boys would have to be a little further along in puberty before they were physically able to reproduce (the article mentioned that Alfie's voice hasn't yet changed).
Few would argue that these children, because they are still children, are capable of parenting. Here in Canada our teen pregnancy rates have been in decline for sometime, and our age for losing virginity has stabilized. All good news.
I look at this boy and know that as much as he may want to do the right thing, as hard as he may try, he will not be a good parent. And then I think that somewhere along the line his parents fell down on the job, too.
Twelve and thirteen year old children should not be having sex. They are not old enough or mature enough to handle the responsibilities associated with sexual activity.
When I first thought about Salma Hayek nursing another mother's baby I thought, "yuck." But in reality it wasn't gross at all. A twelve year old having sex - that is scary gross, and yes, I am being completely judgemental.