UK - The Hospital on Channel 4

[dreamer56]

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 (https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-hospital/articles/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

 

[Kbee]

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

 

[Mumof42009]

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

 

[sophiecouldwe]

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

 

[dreamer56]

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...

 

[Mumof42009]

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

 

[xx~Lor~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

 

[dreamer56]

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

 

[nikky0907]

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.

 

[kelly2903]

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

 

[Panda_Ally]

Well said hun!!!

 

[HannahGraceee]

teen mums will always be sterotyped aslong as programs like that are out there, they dont take in consideration there is teens trying there hardest to make a good life for there children and actually know what there getting themselfs into and its not just about having a little mini me. Like one of the girls didnt even know what labour was .. fair enough before you were pregnant maybe people didnt NEED to know, but your pregnant, do some research!!

I will admit - i DID smoke but i quit when i found out i was pregnant
I wasnt in edcuation as i found out i was pregnant in auguast and they said there was no point in me coming back as i would miss loads apperntly
i did have a part time job and saved money up
and i dont have my own place, living with my parents but i do have my own front door lol
and was only with my boyfriend 4 months ospy..

but we love each other and were gonna provide for our child the best we possibly can, i didnt wish to get pregnant, but am blessed that i did

programs like these give teen mums a bad name! when are we gonna get a program that follows hard working teen mums? never i doubt

 

[dreamer56]

sooo.... anyone fancy making a programme about hardworking teen mums? hahaa
thanks for the positive feedback ladiess xx

 

[Sophie1205]

I just watched that. I hate the way people stereotype teenage mums
I try to ignore it but in the area I live in I do get stereotyped, but Im a good Mum and not your stereoyptical teenage mum and people need to realise that not all teenage mums are like that!!

x

 

[vicky9207]

I Wacthed It Too. I Thought It Was Awful. I Think It Let Down All Young Mums.

 

[claire-lou]

Hun I'm older than you but did watch the programme and understood that it took a very biased approach to teenage pregnancy. Anyone with half a brain cell would see that this was just a minority and not judge you or anyone else in your situation for that matter. The

, fat, chavvy, smoking, pierced failures!

could just as easily have been a 25 year old in the same situation. Don't take it personally nobody has got the right to judge you

It isn't only teenagers who find themselves with unplanned pregnancies, mine was too

 

[TypicalyBlond]

Just watched it on 4OD. OMG. Got so wound up watching it, I honestly kept saying "WTF" out loud to that girl who refused to listen to any of the nurses and smoked a fag every 5 mins, then had the nerve to say at the end that she wishes she hadn't got pregnant?!... Some people are so stupid.

 

[philly_bear24]

The programme was incredibly stereotypical in my view. I could show you plenty of mums in my town who are much older yet are TERRIBLE parents; likewise I could show you plenty of young mums who are absolutely brilliant. It was a totally biased view and probably just to boost the ratings.

It's not the age of the parent that counts it's how they act etc.

 

[Seraphim]

I can understand the emotions this programme raised... but my starting point seems a little different from those of you who've commented...

I didn't expect the programme to cover all kinds of teenage pregnancy. Just like the previous episode didn't cover all kinds of accidents. The point was to show the people who are most demanding and most out of touch with their own needs and choices for their own best health. Next time shows people who have problems over eating... and that too will be biased.

It would be nice to see the other side, the hard working young mums like you, but it's less likely to happen, especially because it could be seen as encouragement :/ So the chances of being represented are sadly slim

But I would in no way associate the programme with teenage mums as a whole. I don't expect anybody with a brain would. So please don't feel targeted

x

 

[dreamer56]

i thought the aim of the programme was to show the cost of teens to the NHS?