When Melissa McCabe became pregnant as a young teen, she knew that raising her baby boy alone would be no easy feat. The father of the child showed little to no interest in being involved and providing support for his son’s upbringing; however, this did not deter Melissa from Merseyside, UK from doing all she could possibly do to provide him with the best life possible despite being only fifteen years old when she gave birth.
When she was only a little girl herself, McCabe welcomed the precious arrival of baby Arthur. Parenting at such an age proved to be quite strenuous for her; yet thankfully, she had loving parents and friends by her side throughout it all. Unfortunately, not everyone in her circle showed enthusiasm towards McCabe’s decision to keep Arthur – they believed that being a parent so young would impede on any potential success later down the line and trap them into living an unsteady life full of dead-end jobs.
To this day, McCabe’s relationship with her mother remains strained. Luckily she still has the support of both parents, even though they wished that birth control had been taken so as to grant more authority over bringing a life into the world.
“It definitely influences the way I bring Arthur up. I don’t want him to be exposed to manipulation and inconsistencies in relationships,” she said.
When prom night rolled around for the sixteen-year-old single mother, she made a conscious decision to bring along the most special individual in her life. She adorned her toddler son in a suit and tie, proudly taking him to show off among her teachers and peers at the high school soirée.
“When prom came around, no one could really have him, and I wanted him to be a part of my prom day,” she said.
In anticipation of the special dance, the single teen mom sourced a dapper outfit for her baby boy from Amazon and dressed him up to make memories with his mother.
“It was honestly so cute having him with me and getting pictures taken together because we don’t really have any nice up-to-date pictures of us,” Melissa said. “He loved it, and he particularly loved all the snacks!”
Mom stated, “Everyone is going to prom with their boyfriend, whereas I took my biggest blessing.”
“It was so nice because people who I don’t normally even speak to were coming up and saying how cute Arthur is and saying how proud they are of me,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for better support from my teachers at school.”
