Becoming a parent is a special moment that many people can’t wait for. But for some, such a moment comes as more of a surprise than for others.
For this 19-year-old, the idea of him becoming a father was introduced by a girl he had a crush on. Having fallen pregnant with someone else’s child, she wanted him to be the father of her yet unborn baby; as did her parents, who pressured him, telling him to “be a man” and “step up”. Scroll down to find the full story in the young man’s own words below.
Starting a family is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly
Image credits: Getty Images / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
This 19-year-old was pressured to agree to father another man’s baby
Image credits: Joel Rivera-Camacho / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
Image credits: BassPsychological293
While many people can’t wait to become parents, some choose to remain child-free
Needless to say, raising a child is a huge responsibility; one that people should think long and hard about before trying to wave down a stork carrying a bundle of joy. And while some are ready to bear said responsibility and face any challenges—and joys—that parenthood brings, some people are simply not willing to undergo all that it entails.
Consequently, many people nowadays choose to remain child-free. A Pew Research Center survey carried out earlier this year found that out of child-free adults aged 50 and over, roughly a third said that the reason they didn’t have offspring was simply because they never wanted to. (A similar number of respondents said they didn’t find the right partner to have kids with and roughly 40% shared that it “just never happened” for them.)
Close to 40% of respondents reported that they did want to have kids at one point in their lives, and roughly a quarter admitted that they were never sure about it.
Many children in the US live in single-parent households
Image credits: Tanaphong Toochinda / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
While some people plan on becoming parents and others don’t, unexpected things in life happen all the time, and they can make one change any plans they had fairly quickly. Some change in life entails individuals with kids becoming single parents, and that is in no way a rare scenario nowadays.
According to Pew Research Center’s data from 2019, the US had the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households. Close to a quarter (23%) of kids in the US under the age of 18 lived with one parent and no other adults, which is more than three times the share of kids around the world who live in one-parent households (7%).
According to Statista, more children in single-parent households live with their mother only; last year, the number of such kids was roughly 15,000, while those living with a single dad only added up to just over 3,000 kids. Some sources suggest that moms aged 16 to 19 comprise less than 1% of single parents.
Judging from the fact that she wanted the OP to father her child, it looks like the expectant mom he had a crush on did not want to be a single parent. And while the redditor didn’t cover much ground regarding the baby’s father, the woman chose the OP instead of him when it came to who would get to raise the little one.
But the OP wasn’t interested in being a father figure to her child. And it’s safe to assume that the pressure he faced from the woman’s parents didn’t make him doubt his decision. In addition to that, his own father was pretty clear about what he thought was best for his son and many people in the comments seconded his opinion; they believed that refusing to father the woman’s child in no way made the OP a jerk in the situation.
The young man shared more details in the comments
Fellow netizens didn’t hold back their opinions on the situation and the probable motives of the soon-to-be-mom
Some people, jokingly, suggested that the OP was being a jerk
