My Mum had me when she was a month away from her nineteenth birthday. She was certainly not a slag or a chav. My father and her had been in a relationship for a few years, and both had steady careers. My Mum didn't even know she was pregnant with me until her third trimester. It came as a massive shock as she really wasn't that sort of girl. Nonetheless, despite having me she managed to have an excellent career in the city until she had my brother and sister in her mid thirties and, although we don't always see eye to eye, I get on very well with her.
People were prejudice and called her all sorts at my little village primary school (just because she was a young Mum and yet she had a better career than all of the other mother's there and because of her I got to experience so much culture as a child (she took me to Paris, trips to museums and theatres in London, taught me how to speak basic Spanish, taught me all about Picasso, Da Vinci, Matisse ...none of my other friends got to experience that!). It was ridiculous really. I hate the stereotype that young Mum's are jobless chavs who don't look after their kids. My Mum worked all the way through my childhood and at a hard and demanding job at that. She has never once claimed benefits and I never went without anything. My parents split up when I was 3 as well, so its not as if she did everything with my Dad by my side as well. She was even willing to pay for me to go to Private school at one point when we nearly moved to London.
My Mum certainly did not and does not live up to the young Mum stereotype. I do, however, know a lot of Mothers that do. However, I also know a lot of OLDER Mothers who live up to it as well. At the end of the day, my Mum was just very mature whereas a lot of teenage girls aren't but some are. I think young Mums can be just as good as older mums, however, we see a lot of them that aren't adequate because unfortunately, unlike my own Mum, they haven't quite reached that level of maturity yet.