It's OFFICIAL.. GE-NBC has LOST its mind.. "Baby Borrowers"

[SoCalDem]

Anyone else waste an hour watching this abomination?

After all the recent "pregnancy Pact" news, I tivoed this show last night and just finished watching it..

I CANNOT believe that ANY network would get past the talking stages of a "show" like this..

It was promoted as a show that would "teach" young people about how hard it is to raise a baby..and show them how important it is to "wait"..

These "couples", promoted as teen couples (although their actual ages were never mentioned), show up on a typical McMansion cul de saq...each with their own super-fancy brand new McMansion.. Most are from modest means, and are thoroughly wowed by their lush surroundings..

The show acknowledges that they are "sleeping together", and only one couple even mentions the "m" word..and immediately her boyfriend scowls & changes the subject..

Then the babies show up :grr:

Parents actually "offered" their months-old babies for these kids to practice on.. The show reminds us that the parents are sequestered nearby watching everything and ready to jump in at a moment's notice...and each set of "kids" has a registered professional nanny who stays with them but doe not inferfere unless the child is in imminent danger..

Of course the parents (3 of them) DO jump in on the first day ....

They go out of their way to remind the viewers that it's not a contest, and no one will be "voted off"..

There are SO many things wrong with this..

They missed a real opportunity to show how it REALLY is..

a ratty 1 bedroom apartment..usually up quite a few steps
smelly, broken down "free" furniture
odd, scary-looking neighbors
dirty, old carpeting
a beat up junker car
a sketchy tv that only works when you whack it just right
trips to the laundromat
a dead end job for life (usually)
a single mom...no cutie pie boyfriend running to the store

This show is supposed to introduce babies, toddlers, adolescents, & finally teens like themselves to their "family" over the weeks of the "show"..

It's a SHOW.... it glamorizes the whole aspect of parenting..and since they are always on camera and they KNOW it, and we know it. they are ACTING...

They are playing house in a McMansion, getting paid for it, and some probably are hoping that someone sees them, and offers them a "deal"...

Raising kids is not a GAME.. In real life there is no one "standing by" to take that screaming baby away.. The Calgon FairyGodmother does not exist in the real world.. Babies puke, they shit all over themselves, they cry incessantly.. They DEMAND 150% of your attention, 200% of the time.. they WANT WANT WANT..NEED NEED NEED..all the time, whether you are tired, sick, unhappy, broke, depressed, or on top of the world.

This show will just convince other "kids" watching it that THEY could do it..and that these kids are just not as good at it as THEY will be... and it reinforces the dreamworld that many teens live in..

In their little dream, they too will have the great house, the Escalade, the cute clothes, the flat screen tvs in every room, and still have plenty of money to party all the time..:grr:

[skooooo]

1. Wow..

You're really mad about this. I'm not sure I agree that the show glamorizes parenting at all. I think the point of the show is to illustrate that raising kids is a real bitch. Since you seem really exorcised about it, maybe you should give it the benefit of a doubt. It's probably not the greatest show, but I doubt it's going to bring about the cataclysm you describe.

[SoCalDem]

2. babies are not "props"..

I am "exorcised" about the fact that teen pregancy is serious business, and a "show" like this is NOT going to help one bit..

[skooooo]

3. hoookay

:hi:

[Warpy]

7. Well, there's another way to look at it

because they're showing the perfect life of someone who goes to the right school, goes into the right field of study, gets the right grades, gets the right job, and manages their money the right way. It's the perfect American dream to materialistic teenagers (and how many are not materialistic? Not bloody many).

Then they get handed a squalling baby and the baby fucks it all up.

I think that must be what they're going for. The scenario you described is the more likely one for children who have children and find out the hard way that working full time and going to school part time with a kid doesn't work at all. However, to have the perfect life blow up in their faces by the presence of a baby who needs them constantly might also be a good lesson.

However, yes, dumb kids will watch this and think the house and plasma TV come with the baby. Most of them already do, though, so this won't make it worse.

It is annoying to have it so unrealistic. However, I do understand why they made it yuppie city instead of realistic slum squalor.

[L0oniX]

4. Unless you were born rich, you are better off not having children.

No children that are born today will ever own a car much less have affordable gas to put in it and that's one of many things in store for them.

[World Citizen]

5. Magic

Yeah, they should wait till they are 20...... or some magic age that it all becomes so easy.

Parenting, and education are the most important responsibilities that humans can have, yet they are treated with lips service with no real funding provided to study how humans learn.

[Swamp Rat]

6. Sounds similar to a military recruitment commercial.

"Be all that you can be, in the Nursery!"

[varelse]

8. I'm with you on this one

although I don't have a TV and can't (and WON'T) watch that show, or any other mainstream "infotainment" programming, the concept as you've outlined it is appalling.

[tnlefty]

9. Didn't see it and won't, but I did have someone tell me a few years

ago that she was getting a puppy to determine if she was ready for motherhood. I busted a gut laughing in her face, and explained that while puppies require training, time and attention, it is no where near the level of an infant, toddler, preschooler, or a child at any phase.

Babies are not props and glamorizing motherhood at an early age just boggles my mind. I was an 'older Mom' and there were still times that I was wishing for the Calgon Fairy Godmother to drop by.

[LibDemAlways]

10. I substitute teach at the local high school where the

seniors are required to take a course called "Family Life," part of which involves dragging a doll around for a week to supposedly teach kids about the responsibility of parenthood. The dolls end up stuffed in backpacks, under desks, etc. The kids learn nothing except that it's annoying to have to carry a doll around for a week.

I haven't seen the show, but it sounds ridiculous. No teen couple starts out in a McMansion with all the yuppie amenities. If the producers wanted to teach kids about the realities of teen parenthood, they would have sought out a single teen mom waiting tables while grandma babysits and boyfriend is nowhere to be found. Leave it to Hollywood to glam up what in reality is a difficult situation at best and a nightmare at worst.