By Kimberly Humphries

We see them on TV screens, magazine covers, and in the hallways of our school.  Being a teen mom seems to slowly become a more common title.  Everyone has their own opinions on how teen moms raise their child and live their lives, but who are we to judge them and what they do?

We can never really judge a person until we have experienced what they have been through and until we carefully analyze their situation. Having a best friend with a one year old has opened my eyes to all of the criticism teen moms face.

The fact is, three of every four teenagers are sexually active, according to Family First Aid.  That is not to say that the other one-fourth of teenagers are doing something wrong, but it is to say that these girls were not doing anything different than three-fourths of their peers.

Sometimes life does not go as planned, and while there are other routes they could have chosen, they made the mature decision to accept responsibility for their actions and are simply trying to create the best life for themselves and their babies.

These girls are not asking to be praised for being a teen mom, but having rumors spread around school about what kind of mother they are is not exactly what they are looking for either.  I think sometimes we forget how much these girls take on. Finishing high school while rasing a baby is not easy.

There are a lot of false assumptions people make about teen moms.  When they are out with their friends, their child is not sitting in the car by itself, their child is with their father or another responsible adult.  If they make a Facebook for their child, they are not getting a jumpstart on potential Craig’s List buyers, it is a cute way to show off pictures of their pride and joy.  If you think the mom or dad’s parents raise their baby for them, watching them while their children go to school is no different than leaving their child with a babysitter.

When you think about it, we have it pretty easy.  We don’t have a baby constantly crying in our ear and most of us don’t have the entire school analyzing our lives and criticizing everything about us.  These girls knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they knew that in the end, keeping and raising their babies would be worth it.