10-Year-Old Mom No Big Deal: Grandma

The grandmother whose 10-year-old daughter just gave birth in Spain doesn't understand what the hubbub is about, the AP reports. The 30-something woman, identified only as Olimpia, says she's happy to have a granddaughter. News of the birth has provoked shock around the world, but the family, Romanian gypsies living in Spain, think such births are normal.

The case illustrates the cultural differences that exist between Spain's majority population and its Roma minority. "That's the way we get married," the grandmother said in explaining her nonchalance. (The young couple—dad is all of 13—is no longer together.) While Spanish newspapers declared "Mother at 10 years old" and the like in huge headlines, Romanian newspapers barely picked up the story.
(More Gypsy stories.)