“Dolls cry out against teen mums” – I’ve seen details of this scheme before and it seemed a bit odd then…
Babies cry every few hours for feeding for only a few months at most, my daughter slept for 7 hours a night from 3 months, after the first few months the actual ‘childcare’ becomes second nature, you get used to having a baby with you at all times, you become accustomed to keeping one ear listening for them in the night or if they are asleep in the next room.
What no doll can ever prepare you for is the way that, the minute they place your child, that tiny bundle of life into your arms, your life will totally change. Not the routines of your life – lots of mums still go to work every day and have a social life – but who you are.
Nothing can prepare you for the strength of your emotions, the way that all your preconceived ideas of motherhood are shattered. Nothing can prepare you for the fact that for evermore, each news story you hear about a child injured or killed will hit you with the realisation that something could happen to your own child. I’ve lost count of the tears I have cried for children and mothers I know only though a few lines in a news report.
By the same token though – what could prepare you for the joy that having a child brings? I am so lucky to have my daughter, she drives me mad at times but nothing could stop me loving her and I would do anything to keep her safe and happy.
I don’t know what the answer is for the rise in teen pregnancies, I do know that young mothers don’t necessarily equal bad mothers. I can’t see though, how giving a doll that cries to teenagers will be any more than a minor annoyance to be complained about the next day.