Teenage parents are often given a hard time for choosing to have their children and raise them. Sometimes there’s concern young dads won’t stick around for their kids or cope with the responsibilities of being fathers. But there are some teenage dads who are trying hard to become better men.
In May last year Native Affairs met two young men who are keen to be great dads.
Temuera Taitua became a dad at 17. When we spoke with him, five years later, he and his partner Teremoana had two kids, with one on the way.
“Being a father of two is pretty hard, especially when they’re both girls. All the screaming and that,” he says. “At times they can be really hectic.”
Temuera is helping his sister Memory, who had a child at 16, and her boyfriend Torana Aramoana cope with the pressures of being teenage parents.
“If they’re struggling, just talk to me. Just to help them cope through what they’re struggling through,” he says. “Just to be a helping hand. A big brother or something to them.”
Last year Temuera took Torana with him on the annual Otara Young Dads Camp, which has helped around 360 young dads since 2010.
He says, “It’s not mainly about the camp. I just want to help other dads out. Just trying to pick them up and see how they go and look for a better future for them, as well as myself."
Otara Health, which organises the camps, says they help teenage dads change their attitudes towards themselves as individuals and as fathers.
That's something that Torana discovered attending his first young dads camp. “I always used to do my own thing when I want, and taking off leaving and going hang out with my friends,” he says.
But, Torana says that changed when he became a father.
“Emotionally-wise it really got to me when my son was born,” he says. “ It really meant something to me. So, I stayed.”
Being a father has also meant a great deal to his young dad mentor Temuera. He's looking to be there for his partner and children for the long haul. And he's not afraid of the responsibilities of being a good dad.
“I ain’t like a chicken dad. I’ll stay until the end. I love my partner. I love my kids.”