Tiniel – Ōtahuhu
“I’m Tiniel, and Ōtahuhu is the place that I call home. My cousin’s partner was recently in hospital.
He was in a car accident and she needed someone to look after her babies for a few days, and I was the only one that was willing to take them. Her partner collided with another car, and they ran into a wall. She was in the hospital with him for a few weeks, and the babies couldn’t stay up there.
I’m 19 and being a mum’s pretty stressful, but I push through it for her. I actually studied an early childhood course before I had her, so I was pretty lucky in preparing for it. I think what makes a good mum would be… it’s a bit hard to point out the good points of being a mum. It’s just a daily struggle, but it’s worth it in the end.
Her Dad is currently working, but we’re not really together at the moment. She’s sort of in between homes, which isn’t what I planned for her. He hasn’t made the best choices in the past, and it’s sort of made an impact on her, I guess, but he’s trying, and I guess that’s really all he can do. We met through a mutual friend actually. He sort of tried to set us up, and we were together for about two years and I fell pregnant with her.
The only advice I would have for anyone is just ask for help when you need it. Don’t try and think you’re able to do everything on your own just because you’re becoming a new mum. You will need help. The main thing that’s been helpful for me is definitely my family, my number one supporters, and being able to take care of her as well as me. It’s so important, because the relationships that they see in their life, they’ll learn from that, and whatever kind of relationship it may be, good or bad, they’ll think, ‘oh then that’s okay for me to do that’, or stuff like that.”
