Somehow, Sophia Abraham has survived over a dozen years of Farrah’s delinquent parenting.
I and of itself, that deserves recognition.
Wednesday was Sophia’s birthday. She is thirteen, and thus officially a teenager.
But Farrah chose to celebrate with costumes, a very real facial piercing, and an advertisement that many felt were totally inappropriate.
“I WENT GRUNGE FOR @sophialabraham,” Farrah announced, right off the bat making the occassion about her.
“Happy 13th Birthday!” she proclaimed on Instagram.
“Totally had to post this as soon as it turned February 23,” Farrah added.
“Love you my 13 year old!” Farrah raved at Sophia.
“I’m very proud of you!” she added.
In typical Farrah fashion, she added: “Wishing you the best teen years of your life!”
While Farrah did very clearly hot the limelight in some of her posts about Sophia, it mostly seemed sweet.
Some called out her definition of “grunge,” identifying Sophia’s look as closer to goth.
Some also accused Sophia’s outfit of being inappropriate (we’re going to have to disagree, there).
Hand-wringing over Sophia’s perfectly normal, age-appropriate outfits is nothing new.
No one is arguing that Farrah is a good parent (just better than some others, like Jenelle and Amber), but Sophia’s outfit is fine.
There was another aspect of Sophia’s birthday celebration that drew even more attention.
Apparently, something that Sophia really wanted for herself is a septum piercing.
Piercings are a time-honored rite of passage in many cultures, and in some more extreme households, ear piercings don’t happen until one is a teenager.
A septum piercing, in which a metal loop is passed through the cartilage at the center of one’s nose, is considered a tall order as far as facial piercings go.
Sophia looks great with it! The purple hair is our favorite part of her look, but we’re loving the septum piercing.
Some have taken to social media to express the concern that Farrah is forcing these milestones upon her daughter to make her grow up too quickly.
After all, a piercing like this makes her look very “grown up.”
As eager as we always are to point out Farrah’s many failings, this isn’t one of them.
We’ll admit, the idea of a middle schooler with a facial piercing sounds odd.
But thinking back, I made my first friend who had a septum piercing back when I was only 14. So … this doesn’t sound that off.
Part of the seeming panic over Sophia growing up may simply be arising because, well, time is passing.
Those of us who remember these folks from 16 And Pregnant do not cherish the idea of these former teens having teens of their own.
But forcing Sophia to dress like a little kid won’t make her any less of a teenager, and it won’t stop the rest of us from aging, either.
Most of the panic related to Sophia stems from the fact that people do not like or trust Farrah.
While she is, again, not the worst parent from the franchise, that doesn’t say much considering some of her MTV “peers.”
But it’s a shame when the well-deserved dislike of Farrah leads to people effectively shaming Sophia for being a normal girl.
