For decades, the narrative of teenage pregnancy in popular culture was almost exclusively a mother’s story. From the after-school specials of the 1980s to the tabloid reign of Juno and The Secret Life of the American Teenager , the lens was firmly fixed on the pregnant girl—her shame, her choices, her sacrifice. The boyfriend, if he appeared at all, was often a caricature: the deadbeat who runs for the hills, the reluctant husband forced into a shotgun wedding, or the “good guy” who nobly sticks around as a second-tier character.

The teen dad romance storyline works because it asks the most adult question of all: What does it mean to love someone more than yourself, before you even know who you are? The answer, it turns out, is the most dramatic, romantic, and human answer of all. This article was originally published as part of a series on evolving romantic tropes in YA and new adult fiction.

The romance often begins after the birth. The audience meets the teen dad when he is already exhausted, ostracized, or fighting for custody. The romantic interest (often a new girl at school who represents a “normal” life) is initially shocked by his situation. The tension is not “will they get together?” but “ can she accept this ready-made family?”