Baby Borrowers

Have you seen this new NBC reality endeavor? I have to admit, I'm not a huge reality show fan, but occassionally I'll watch one or two...in the words of my good friends Shellie and Aaron, "Don't judge me." I saw the commercial for this Baby Borrowers show, and while I know that it will be edited to make for the "best" tv they can make out of it, I still thought it could be an interesting show. But what really got me was their tag line..."It's not tv, it's birth control." I thought that was pretty clever. And depending on which kids they use, birth control it probably will be.

Let me explain the show real quick for anyone who hasn't seen it or the commercials yet. Basically, they have several teenage couples that have "volunteered" to take on the challenge of raising a kid. They start with an infant, then get a toddler, then an adolescent, and so on...all the way up to the elderly. They have each one for a few days, and are completely responsible for them. Now, don't worry, the parents of the "borrowed" kids are able to watch in, and able to jump in at any time in the case of an emergency. One teen "parent" stays home taking care of the kid during the day, while the other "parent" goes to their job (picked for them by NBC).

So, I was kind of interested in seeing the show, and had some high expectations for it. I guess I should thank the networks for one thing, and that is consistency. I don't know if I was more disappointed in the show, or in my nieve hope that they it would be different from any of the other reality shows. See, here is my problem with the show. Now, I already know that there are some of you who are going to think that I'm an idiot for this even bothering me, but you'll figure out how to get over it. Each teen couple has their own house to raise this little family of their's in, well, my disappointment was this: they let the teens sleep in the same beds, and air that. Ok, maybe I'm in the minority (I'm used to it) in this opinion, but seriously? Come on people, let's at least PRETEND that we have some morals, and that we're teaching those morals to our kids! I've mentioned this to a few people, and here are the two basic responses I've gotten: 1) well they're probably already having sex anyway. 2) just because they're in the bed together, doesn't mean they're having sex.

Ok, so here's the thing, I know that statistically the couples probably are having sex, but are our moral standards so low that we are now rolling out the red carpet for them! I don't get it!

As for the second answer, I sincerely hope that they are not, and don't think that I am, nieve enough to think that two teens sleeping in the same bed together, aren't going to be messing around. Seriously, are we that dumb?! Add to that the fact that the show itself plays up the first day or two as the "honeymoon." And you honestly think they aren't messing around? Come on people, don't be stupid.

So basically, I love the idea that they are trying to show the teens (and anyone watching it as well) that raising a baby (and subsequent older ages) is NOT easy, and that they should seriously consider it before jumping into it. What I don't like is the sleeping in the same bed, as already mentioned, and also, what worries me is that the message many are going to take away from this show may very well be, "oh crap, if I get pregnant I better get an abortion, I can't handle something like raising a kid." I honestly hope that the message taken from the show would be, "oh crap, raising a kid is scary, I should keep my pants on until I can handle something like that." But I fear that's not the message NBC is going for. Anyway, if you've read this far, thanks! But do me a favor, and let me know what you think about this.