The Sun, with their super-duper exclusive, have belittled little Alfie Patton who is apparently, though this is not yet proven the father of a year. He is just 13 years old.The Sun likes picking on people - I threw away one copy of the Sun away a few months away in disgust because their letters page included one reader who suggested we send all disabled people to "Poland". I took it as a Holocaust insult myself and if I could find said letter, I would. Unfortunately I would reduce that the average Sun reader are not all that enlightened. That particular sender of the letter and the author of this article, are a case in point.
Fairly they highlight the dangerous realities of teenage pregnancies - that the lad doesn't know the price of nappies (£10 should cover it, apparently...) - but then the author goes into insulting the lad that he looks 8 years old, and that his voice has yet to break.
The AP, much more neutral, do highlight the fact that there are many other potential fathers, not just Alfie.
The point isn't to prove by DNA who is the father or not, its the fact that the baby is cared for. Teenage pregancy or not, this is paramount. The biological father, the age of the alleged father and mother is not first priority.
The Anti-abortion agency LIFE have applauded that Abortion didn't take place, which I think takes a lot of courage, and admiration must go to the parents.
But it is time that the media stepped away from dramatizing and politicising the news - It is not ideal but to score cheap political points Mr. Iain Duncan Smith, calling it a case of a broken society where "anything goes", hardly helps matters and frankly is below the belt.
It should be left squarely between the respective family's shoulders and the relevant social services over the care of the baby. It's news, but its hardly front page.
If this is such a problem - perhaps we should be doing more to educate kids in school, give the GPs more of an educational role when it comes to teenage pregnancies and if at the end of the day, if the baby is kept at the consideration of all parties - it is something to admire and applaud, not to be scorned and scowled at because it doesn't fit in with conventional, conservate, nuclear-family ideals.
"Hey Teacher! Leave them kids alone..."
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He's not really been insulted because he looks eight. He DOES look very young. Our nephews who are younger look older than him!
ReplyDeleteIt is a shocking situation, and while it is important to deal with it now it's happened, the bigger question needs to be asked regarding why it's happened.
The DNA question does matter. The 13 year old's father is making thousands selling the rights to the story. I'd love it if it turned out to be a huge scam. I bet Karen Matthews is somehow involved.
And I do think this is a good argument for a 'broken Britain'. 13 is incredibly young. He's still in the lower years of secondary school. He doesn't have any concept of money, apparently asking what 'financial' meant. How's he going to raise a child when he's so ignorant?
He's so young that in a few years his girlfriend will be able to collect her child's welfare payments as well as her boyfriend's.
More should be done in schools, but at home also. GP's role will always be minimal just because they'll be meeting the children when it's already got out of hand (like 14 year old girls asking for the pill).
I just find the whole situation funny because the Sun mentioned how him and his girlfriend were playing Saints Row II, an 18 rated game. It's obviously all video games' fault.