Pushing her toddler son and newborn daughter down the street in their double pram, Mollie Syrigos is acutely aware of the sideways glances and rude whispers she gets as she passes.
‘I can feel people’s eyes boring into me,’ the 16-year-old tells New Idea. ‘Going to the shopping centre with one child as a young mum was bad. But with two, it’s a lot worse. Everyone stares at me and we get a lot of dirty looks.’
Mollie was labelled ‘Australia’s youngest mum’ when she fell pregnant at the tender age of 13. Her boyfriend Oscar Wilks was 14.
Despite a lot of pressure to have an abortion, the young couple refused and their much- loved son Theodore was born in March 2016.
Mollie was thrust back into the spotlight around Theodore’s first birthday when it was revealed she was expecting baby number two.
‘It was kind of planned – it wasn’t prevented,’ she says. ‘We were both really open to the prospect of having another baby, so we decided to let nature take its course. If I fell pregnant, then it was meant to be.’
Though they were ridiculed by friends, Mollie says their families were more supportive.
Despite the stereotypes surrounding teen mothers, Mollie says her little ones are thriving. ‘The nurses and midwives are always very shocked and surprised at how well they are both growing.
‘Theodore is so clever – if you say one word he will pick it up straightaway. His vocabulary is amazing for a child not yet two! He knows the whole alphabet. You say it and he’ll repeat it back. He loves counting up to 10 too.
‘Delilah’s strength is amazing, she can hold her head up very well. She’s breastfed and she’s put on 1.5kg since she was born. She is a very placid baby.’
Though Mollie one day dreams of being a teacher, for now she is content being at home with the children.
‘With some teenagers I guess having a baby makes life worse for them, or they feel like their life has stopped. But before I fell pregnant, I was just numb all the time. I’d run away from home and had no friends there for me – so it was very difficult to live feeling like I had no-one.
‘The kids have changed my life for the better. I would be completely lost without them. I probably wouldn’t be here. I’d be on a road to hell because I was so depressed beforehand and had no purpose.
‘The children have given me a meaning to life and they make me work hard each day. They teach me a lot about life, as well as me teaching them. They are my world.’
Originally appeared on New Idea.
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