Nothing could have prepared a Texas mom for the moment she discovered her 7-year-old had introduced the concept of teen pregnancy to her entire first grade class.
Madeleine Lambert (@madslamby) explained in a TikTok video how her daughter, Everly, proudly wrote a story about how her mom gave birth to her at 14.
“Everly is seven, old enough to understand that her mom is younger than most, but too young to grasp the reality of what it means,” Lambert told Newsweek. “I don’t want my story to ever burden her.”
@madslamby
The first sentence of Everly’s story read: Maddie got pregnant at 13 and had a baby at 14.
Next, Everly wrote how her dad, Isaac, broke up with her mom.
“When I heard she was writing a story about me having her at 14, I swear I went through all the emotions,” Lambert told Newsweek.
“Proud of Everly for showing pride in where she comes from and our story, entertained because of the topic she chose out of all of her interests in life, and embarrassed that I may very well be the reason that a parent has to explain to their 7-year-old what a teen parent is,” she said.
Lambert later received a call from Everly’s teacher – thankfully a close family friend – who brought up the story and asked how they could frame things in a more age-appropriate way.
“She asked if I would be okay with her asking Everly to change it to ‘her mom and dad decided to remain friends.’ I am so grateful for how her teacher respects her story and mine,” Lambert told Newsweek.
In her clip, Lambert admitted Everly’s classmates were left confused.
“They don’t really understand what a teen is, much less a teen mom. So, to all the parents of first graders who are gonna [sic] come home asking, What’s a teen mom? I’m so sorry.”
The clip, which has been viewed over two million times, encouraged other fellow parents to come forward with the things their kids have told other people.
“When I was little, my mom had margaritas like once a month and I wrote a whole poem book about how much she loves beer and sleeping,” one user wrote.
“My kids told everyone their dad drinks and drives all the time…he drinks coffee,” said another.
Lambert told Newsweek that she’s proud of her daughter for showing pride in where she comes from.
“Overall, I think it was one of her first steps to publicly navigating having a young parent, and I’m thankful she is having a positive experience,” she added.
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