Did anybody else watch The Hospital on Channel 4 on - I think - Tuesday night?

Because I am only 17, I thought I would watch it. I was really, really horrified! It showed us younger mums-to-be as, stereotypically, fat, chavvy, smoking, pierced failures! This sounds really rude of me I know, but I feel that in my position it makes older people look down on me as a failure too.

I have been with my boyfriend for 2 years and he is still loyal to me after finding out I was pregnant. I don't smoke or do drugs and only drink on special occasions i.e. birthdays, Christmas. I go to college Monday to Friday and work three nights a week at Tesco. I have great GCSE results and will have 4 A-Levels in June (fortunately baby is due October).

I went on the Channel 4 website after the show (http://www.channel4.com/programmes/t...s/the-hospital) and it said this:

With teenage pregnancy figures on the rise again this year, this film explores why it's so difficult to get teenage girls to wait before becoming mothers if life seems to offer little else. 'I wanted a baby since the age of 13... I was having so many problems at home, at school - I thought if I had a baby, my mind would be taken off that,' one 17-year-old told us.

If half us teens felt this way, I would understand! Really, I would. But I have been a member on this website for a little while now and I read how most of us just find ourselves in a difficult choosing situation which we really wish we weren't in.

I feel like I am rambling on now, but it just feels nasty that half a nation probably watched that and saw us all as these stereotypes.

I never wished, asked, wanted to get pregnant at this age. It has happened and I'm dealing with it! Just had to let the steam out

Does anyone else feel they're really stereotyped?????

xoxo

Hi Hun,
I'm a bit older but I do work with 12-18 yr olds in a hospital......I really hope that the people who watched this realised they were only seeing a biased cross section of younger mums.
Unfortunately TV shows need ratings so i imagine they were looking for the extreme cases to follow......not much help for those like yourself, however take comfort that you know are doing a wonderful job.
TV programmes recently keep showing really negative views of hospitals and patients which I am sure are not fully informed or reflected nationally GRRRRRRRR
to you
xx

Hi
You sound nothing like the girls on that program you sound like you have your head screwed on hun, i was a teen mum had my 1st dd at 18 i brought her and her sister up on my own when there dad walked out and fathered 10 other children who are spread about everywhere. I worked and studied just like you to better myself, ive been with my current partner for nearly 4 yrs we have dd together and one on the way he is more of a man than my oldest 2's dad was and my girls call him dad. This program made out it was so easy to get a council house i live in bham were the program was done and i can tell you ive been on the waiting list 12yrs and nothing! I looking to train to work with teenage mothers either as a midwife or as a counseller. Im sure you are going to be a great mum hun xxx

hiya
i watched the program too and was horrified! im 18, 19 when baby is due and i felt just like you... part of the same steriotypical group which is totally untrue! i felt like everytime the program used the word "they" i was being put in the same group. it made me so mad but also really upset, the girls on the program didnt seem to care and it was so sad for the babies but we both know that we are doing a good job and doing all we can for our little babies just like every other mum who cares what ever age they may be.
xxxx

thanks guys for your replies

i didnt really think of it as biased because admittedly it DID make good tele!! although i still hated it and it definitely upset me too.

i still remember when i first saw my midwife and when she asked me if i smoked, i said no.. to which she replied well i mean like have you ever touched one? i was like i said no and i mean no ive never smoked.. is it really that expected!!!!!? grrrrr...

I think they are quick to judge everyone to be the same and those girls on there were a bad example of young mums but there are so many good young mums that overshadow the bad ones you will always be looked down upon, i do now and im nearly 30 but look young! People are too quick to judge but do they pay your bills huni no so it aint any of there buisness xx

Hiiya,

I totally agree with you, I feel so stereotyped by the entire programme! I'm similar to you dreamer56, been with my boyfriend a year and a half and have good gcses, i dont smoke, or drink, neither does my boyfriend. We also both have jobs, have never claimed off the government, and we don't intend to! We have been renting together privately for 11 months, off our own backs, with our own money that we've earnt. It's appalling that they would show just one section of types of teenagers! You just look at many teen mums-to-be on here, and they're nothing like what was shown on the programme. Unhappy!!!

xoxox

you sound very sorted- i wish i had my own place unfortunately tesco doesnt pay fantastic wage ha

im really glad i found this site it definitely helps and like you said the teen mums on here are really different to the stereotype
xoxo

Well I'm in US, so haven't seen it ofcourse but I hate programmes that tar us all with the same brush...it's always the same ''poor education, welfare, poor children developmet etc''

I was 18 when I got pregnant, was and still am in university, live on my own, pay my bills, work (currently on mat leave), live in a nice area same as all the other families...not to mention my daughter is greatly taken care of.


Sadly there are some teen mothers that truly do put a baaad name on the rest of us who really try.

totally agree with wat you girls are saying and teenage mums shouldnt be tied with the same brush, they are not all the same its so easy to become a mum at any age and it doesnt mean that every person that is a young mum has set out an done it for the wrong reasons, dont be hard o your selfs girls it just shows your pretty good mums, to even care. all best xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx