“Because of Me?” — Son Discovers Mom Had Him at 17, Asks if He’s Why She Didn’t Go to College

A mom recorded the moment her son realized that when she gave birth to him, she was still a teenager. And the internet was taken aback by the instant concern he had for his mother's educational pursuits at that age.

Alondra Rubey (@alondrarubey) posted the video on TikTok, where several folks were touched by her son's worry that her decision to give birth to him at 17 years old may have potentially jeopardized her dreams of attaining a college degree.

Alondra's video begins with a recording of two kids on a bed. One is a young boy who appears to be in elementary school. The other is a baby cooing and playing while sitting up in a pair of dinosaur pajamas. Next, the TikToker's older kid pops up after making a realization.

It's one that has to do with a text overlay that's on the screen right from the clip's onset. "When your oldest is old enough to do the math," it reads.

After finishing counting on his fingers, he turns to his mother and says, "Yeah, we are 17 years apart."

Alondra can be heard lightly laughing off camera, "Why do you say that?"

"What?" the young boy says, clearly thinking about the age gap between him and his mother. "Wait but ... Wait ... But how?"

"What do you mean how?" she asks him with a chuckle.

"How?" he asks her again.

"What do you mean?" she repeats, before stating. "I had you when I was 17."

Then, it dawns on the young boy and how young his mother was when she gave birth to him. His mouth drops open, "What?" he says silently as the baby on the bed continues making cooing noises.

"Damn," the young man says silently, which elicits further laughter from Alondra. He looks back at her, smiling, before placing his hand on his forehead.

"Why?" she says, continuing to laugh.

"Were you in college or were you in high school when you had me?" he asks her quietly.

"I was in high school," she tells him.

"What?!" he responds in loud disbelief. "Did you ever make it to college?" he asks her, which prompts more laughter from Alondra.

"Bro what?!" Mom says to her child, guffawing more, before revealing, "I didn't go to college."

Immediately, her son wants to know if he was the reason she didn't pursue a higher education. "Because of me?"

She laughs some more but assures him that this wasn't the case.

"No, not because of you. I could've still went to college if I wanted to."

However, the young man thought that he was the reason she couldn't enroll in a university as she had to dedicate her time to caring for him as an infant.

"Basically you couldn't go to college because you had to take care of me and ... Yeah."

Mom replied, "Well I took care of you, right? Right? OK."

Her son still maintained that the reason why Alondra didn't get a degree is because she got pregnant with him.

"So you couldn't go because of me?"

But Mom was quick to correct him, "No, I could have gone to college, if I wanted to."

Her son responded immediately, "But then you had to take care of me."

She assured him that her having to take care of him wouldn't have stopped her from pursuing a higher degree education if she was passionate about it.

"Yeah, but that's why I would've gotten a babysitter. To watch you while I was in college if I wanted to."

But her son wasn't really convinced of this argument, "That don't make sense," he tells her as the video comes to a close.

The TikToker added in a caption for the clip, "He’s questioning everything these days."

One user who replied to her clip stated that they were impressed with the fact that at his young age, he understands that 17 years old is pretty young for someone to be a mom: "The fact that he understands 17 years old is YOUNG is such a great sign to me. I always felt like that was so old when I was younger!"

Others felt saddened by the fact that the young man immediately tried to take the blame on himself for his mother not being able to get a degree. "That 'because of me?' ripped my heart out."

Another person said that they were happy Alondra told him several times that she could've still went to college if she wanted to.

"Thank you for telling him it wasn't because of him. You just fixed a childhood hurt for me lol," another said.

"Aww he sounded concerned," someone else wrote.

Another echoed that they were happy she didn't try and make him feel guilty for not pursuing a college degree just because she was a teen mom.

"So glad you said 'I could’ve still gone if I wanted to'. So many moms blame their kids."

According to the American SPCC, "less than 2 percent of teen moms earn a college degree by age 30." Furthermore, the outlet writes that "about a quarter of teen moms have a second child within 24 months of their first baby."