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Setting an example: Cheryl Holden, 24, and Michael Fernandes, 22, with children Archie, 11 months, Liam, eight, and Bryan, three
After a schoolyard relationship, Michael Fernandes, 13, and his 15-year-old girlfriend Cheryl Holden revealed they were expecting a child. Their families were horrified.
Yet, almost a decade on, the couple have defied the nay-sayers (see NOTE 1) and turned the negative stereotypes on their head.
NOTE1:nay-sayers refers to those who frequently engage in excessive complaining and/or a downbeat attitude. Example: Being the world renowned naysayer that he was, Jobe complained about nearly every aspect of the party and made sure nobody else had a good time.
Cheryl, aged 16, and Michael, aged 14, outside his mother"s house with their son Liam, aged two months, in 2003
Not only are they still together, they have added to their family and now plan to marry.
And, shunning a life on benefits, after staying at school to pass his exams, Michael has worked full-time to support his family.
Michael, who was then 14, meanwhile, who also lived with his parents, stayed on to pass six GCSEs (see NOTE 2), including one at A grade.
He began working as soon as he was able, first washing dishes at a restaurant after his classes.
"He"d come home from school, spend time with me and Liam, change out of his school uniform and go to work as a dishwasher," Cheryl, now 24, said yesterday.
NOTE 2: GCSE refers to General Certificate of Secondary Education. Courses that all UK teenagers are required to complete, which can be in subjects of choice, though Maths, Science, English and a foreign language are compulsory.
Despite friends and family telling the young couple, pictured in Spain in 2007, their relationship would not last, nine years on - and after two more children - the couple are still together and ready to tie the knot
Since then he has never spent more than a week on Jobseeker"s Allowance (see NOTE 3), and for the past three years has been getting up at dawn to work as a landscape gardener (see NOTE 4).
Cheryl has been a full-time mother since sons Bryan - now three - and 11-month-old Archie arrived.
In 2009, Michael, now 22, proposed and the couple are taking part in a competition with a local radio station to win an all-expenses-paid wedding next month.
"Obviously we"ve done things backwards - it would be better to start a relationship, get married, buy a house and have children," said Michael.
"Liam"s eight now, it won"t be long before he"s the age I was when we had him. When he is I"ll tell him he needs to wait, get a good education, go to university, and then when he has a family he"ll be able to provide for them better than we"ve been able to."
‘Everybody said, “You’ll never last with a young child”,’ Michael added. ‘We showed everyone.’
NOTE 3: Jobseeker"s Allowance-in the UK, money that the government pays to unemployed people who are looking for a job
NOTE 4: landscape gardener is engaged in the development and decorative planting of gardens and grounds.
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