The very fact that even theoretical criticism of her choices is considered to be "demonisation" is proof enough of that.* Meanwhile, back in my own little middle-youth world, I am finding great comfort in the breaking of all the over-40s taboos Don't have long hair over 40, they say Don't wear jeans. Ms Scanlan, with the dad of her babies and her own dad out of the picture, and £150 in benefits to feed and clothe her children on, will need extraordinary maturity to triumph in this way. Could such rank hypocrisy really be enacted? Moss's antics may not be straight out of Penelope Leech. But they are less dangerous to her children than the all-too-human shortcomings - hinted at in Hosking's report - of an a over-stretched teenager with a cheap wine hangover and a child who needs attention.This week, too, a set of triplets was born to Natalie Scanlan, a 16-year-old girl under the impression that all her children need is love Sometimes teenage mothers do magnificently against the odds. The general public of the entire western world is standing at the sidelines of her existence, and willing her to stay, like She Who Must Be Obeyed, forever young.
All she did, as far as I can see, to prompt what is tritely referred to as "her fall from grace" is make an impressive fist of obliging us all.Now, of course, the rumour mill is enjoying reporting that the poor woman is terrified of having her daughter taken away from her. It's reckoned to be a marvellous thing that Kate Moss and her mother are more like siblings. Yet it's surely just another aspect of the extraordinary position the model finds herself in. At 31, she's not just an embodiment of carefree English beauty. She's also celebrated for the youthfulness of her style and her life.
I'd love to imagine that I come across to my children as a distant and mature authority figure. But I can't help suspecting that actually they see me more as a grotesquely overgrown sister.Amazingly, this gross-out phenomenon is actually celebrated. A recent survey uncovered that people now consider "youth" to end that the age of 49. I speak from my own experience when I say that hanging on to youth doesn't just mean carrying on going to live gigs and clubs, wearing clothes from Top Shop and forever pondering the great philosophical issues surrounding plastic surgery. It also involves sulking, indulging in temper tantrums, and adopting an I-didn't-ask-to-be-born attitude towards the world in general. He argues that the "lower emotional maturity" and "lower emotional reserves" of teenagers leads them to behave erratically in front of and towards their children But perhaps it is all more subtle than that. Maybe the ever-more pervasive lack of maturity in our whole culture is making a contribution as well.Adults, after all, seem more and more reluctant to admit, even to themselves, that they are in fact grown-up.
