Alfie Patten is the British 13-year-old Dad that has been headline news for the last few days. It seems that he and his 15-year-old girlfriend, Chantelle Steadman, have had a sexual relationship resulting in the birth of a baby girl over the weekend. The baby’s name is Maisie Roxanne.
Pictures of the father show a boy of 13 who looks no more than 10 years old, standing only 4 feet tall with a boyish face an manner. We would expect to see a boy like this on a little league team rather than waiting in a maternity ward.
Alfie’s photo and the news that he fathered his girlfriend’s baby has spread around the world like a brushfire of gossip with gasps and tsk-tsks. Many have pointed to this incident as proof positive of the degenerate nature of our culture and how morality and values have become obsolete in Western Society. Some have pointed to England in particular as having lost its moral compass.
There’s some truth in all of that, but its really up to parents to raise children (in a free society at least), and we have to look at the adults who are teaching values to their children. Of course, pointing fingers and assigning blame are not relevant at this point except in the lessons we can learn from it. The tragedy will not change for these young people and this baby regardless of who is to blame. Hopefully, we can take a lesson from it that will help us examine what has gone so terribly wrong in our society.
There does turn out to be one more complicating factor. Some other boys have stepped forward to claim paternity. How odd. It can only be because of the publicity this has garnered. Still, if true, then that changes the story somewhat. At least the other boys are 15 years old instead of 13. Its sad when you think that a 15 year old sounds better than a 13 year old father.
A DNA test is scheduled to determine if the 13-year-old boy is actually the father of little Maisie Roxanne.
Alfie Patten - 13 Year Old Dad - Video
February 18th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
There is no doubt that this story shows something is a bit off on our moral compass if 13-year-olds are having children. But with all the media attention, I have to wonder if little Alfie is the only story like this. I thought the media was jumping on the story because they loved the ‘absurd,’ but now it is being revealed that their families had more to do with leaking the story than anyone else, and that they are driving the publicity. After seeing this video, http://www.newsy.com/videos/young_father_sparks_media_debate/, I’m starting to think that the big issue isn’t just the moral question of sexuality, but also of privacy for the ‘parents’ and the well-being of the children (all three of them).
February 18th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
“The tragedy will not change for these young people and this baby regardless of who is to blame.”
Tragedy? Trial, perhaps; tough times ahead; hard row to hoe, etc., but tragedy? No. A tragedy would have been aborting the baby. A tragedy would have been death of the mother. But thankfully, all are alive and well, and though they face serious challenges, the way they face (or do not) and handle (or do not) the challenges ahead will determine the outcome.
Sure, they may–if baby Masie is blessed–be forced into early adulthood. Better that than the extended childhood (and its much-celebrated childishness) the majority of Western young people choose. But the future is certainly not all roses. For one, the parents of both these young people have been negligent in parenting to this point, so the prospect of Maisie’s grandparents actually growing up and providing decent parenting modeling is slim to none. IF Maisie’s parents learn what their parents obviously did NOT learn (how to be and TO be good parents), and are able to provide proper support and parental models to these young folk, then the world will be truly blessed by the addition of two more real adults to its ranks… however tender their ages.
February 18th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
“IF Maisie’s parents learn what their parents obviously did NOT learn (how to be and TO be good parents), and are able to provide proper support and parental models to these young folk, then the world will be truly blessed by the addition of two more real adults to its ranks… however tender their ages.”
Arggh! Got my fingers tangled. What a mangled sentence! Oh, well, let the reader redact it to make sense… I just Need More Coffee!
February 18th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
You’re right David - tragedy was probably not a good choice of words. I was thinking of the tragedy that these children being in this position to begin with and the tragedy that they have apparently not had the adult supervision they should have had. I wasn’t referring to the newborn baby as a tragedy.
But I understand your point and redacted your mangled sentence