when needed. While her family is supportive now, this is a change for some family members. For example, her father initially struggled to accept her pregnancy, though he has come to be more supportive and is involved as a grandparent. Likewise, despite the prevalence of support in her family overall, there has been some tension in balancing grand-parenting and parenting roles. The teen’s mother had recently found out about own fertility problem at the time when the teen got pregnant; since the baby was born, this grandmother has struggled to fill the role of grandparent rather than parent. The teen mom appreciates the support from her own mother but feels that she can get over-involved. Community support has been less important to this teen mother than family support has been. Although she has been involved in teen parenting classes at the ALC and intended to get involved in some other community programs such as Baby Talk, she has had little interaction with most community programs. Despite not being currently involved in any community programs, she expressed interest in the Crisis Pregnancy Center’s While You Learn” program which a friend of hers is involved in; she “Earn mentioned that she is planning to look into this program and possibly get involved with it. Because this teen mother is the only one who was available for an interview, it is impossible to know whether her experience is representative of the pregnant “typical” or parenting teenager in Northfield. It is possible that community resources play a much larger role in supporting teens who do not have the benefit of a supportive family.
when needed. While her family is supportive now, this is a change for some family members. For example, her father initially struggled to accept her pregnancy, though he has come to be more supportive and is involved as a grandparent. Likewise, despite the prevalence of support in her family overall, there has been some tension in balancing grand-parenting and parenting roles. The teen’s mother had recently found out about own fertility problem at the time when the teen got pregnant; since the baby was born, this grandmother has struggled to fill the role of grandparent rather than parent. The teen mom appreciates the support from her own mother but feels that she can get over-involved. Community support has been less important to this teen mother than family support has been. Although she has been involved in teen parenting classes at the ALC and intended to get involved in some other community programs such as Baby Talk, she has had little interaction with most community programs. Despite not being currently involved in any community programs, she expressed interest in the Crisis Pregnancy Center’s “Earn While You Learn” program which a friend of hers is involved in; she mentioned that she is planning to look into this program and possibly get involved with it. Because this teen mother is the only one who was available for an interview, it is impossible to know whether her experience is representative of the “typical” pregnant or parenting teenager in Northfield. It is possible that community resources play a much larger role in supporting teens who do not have the benefit of a supportive family.