Friday, June 20, 2008

"The Baby Borrowers" A Good Lesson?

Big D and I saw the preview of the new show airing on NBC called The Baby Borrowers. Basically a group of teenage couples are given adult responsibilities, a house, child, and an elderly person. They are then on their own to see how caring for a family and adult responsibilities can affect their life.

The first thing Big D said when he saw the preview was, “Who would let their child be borrowed?” I on the other hand thought this might be a good idea until I thought about it further.

I am all for teaching teens about responsibility and consequences to their actions. What this show looks like to me is just another way of saying children are a burden, hard work, and can royally screw up your life. Having a child is work, but that is not all it is. When you have a child inside a loving marriage all the hard work is worth it. I am wondering if they are going to stress marriage to these kids on the show. Somehow I doubt it.

After they show the teens how horrible it is trying to raise a family, will they then in turn tell them how rewarding and a blessing it can be to raise a family once your married and committed. I really hope this will be apart of the lesson.

It is hard to get the point of not having premarital sex to a teen when our society holds sex and marriage in such low regard. When we take the spiritual connection out of sex between married couples, then what is it? Something used to reproduce and for pleasure.

Is this show teaching these kids that sex used for reproduction is wrong, children are a burden and your life will be miserable with them in it? If so what is left, sex for pleasure?
How do we get them to see this part is not a good idea until they are married, or “older?”

How can we teach teens to wait to have sex when it is plastered all over our world? They see sex before marriage as ok. They see that sex used for their pleasure without commitment, or love is ok. Are tennagers even scared of sexually transmitted diseases when the television shows commercials of people happy and content with the disease they are dealing with?

They are letting these kids learn a lesson by taking care of an elderly person. What does this have to do with anything? I wonder if NBC has some ties with nursing homes. Lets teach our young people what a burden an elderly person is. That way when the time comes to take care of Grandparents, Mom or Dad, they can quickly ship them off to Shady Pines and never look back.

Is giving a child or an elderly person to a teenager to care for without any emotional attachment reality? What lessons will they learn exactly with this method besides taking care of a child or elderly person sucks?

I am wondering if families in our society were open to the possibility of having more children, if this would be a better lesson to teenagers? They would see and experience all the hard work it takes to raise and care for the children in their family. They would also see and experience the joy children can bring to a committed loving relationship.

How about we tell these teens that it is a burden on the CHILD to not be born within a committed and loving relationship.

I am interested to see how this will all play out.

What are your thoughts?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your blog :)
I agree with you wholeheartly
One thing I'd like to say is that I think it would be great for teenagers to visit the elderly or offer to babysit free of charge so that parents could enjoy a night out once and awhile.
But it should come from their heart, just like we should all do acts of kindness from our heart.
I'm not liking "the baby borrowers" at all.
Since when can TV teach our young people anything about healthy marriages, sexuality, and families? If they rely on TV to teach them the things they don't learn in their own families, they will never figure it out, and that's sad, because they're missing out on such great joy!
Anyway, again, love the blog! :)

Anonymous said...

This is a wonderful blog. I happen to agree with you. There is something wrong, with American society that they totally erase the emotional baggage you tote around if you have pre marital sex. Not only that, but when have you really seen any adverts about STD's? Unless they show an advert about a Merk Med, you dont see it. Kids now a days do not seem to know what an STD is or even what STD stand for??!!

We need to turn around this problem somehow and show kids that yes, kids can be hard work, but it is a wonderful thing to have when you have loving marriage there to help support the BOTH of the parents. To have GOD in the center of it, not on the back burner. I think most Americans have opened their mids TOOOOO much that their brains ARE falling out. Little by little though...Im sure we can make a difference by teaching and preaching about marriage and a loving family. Your article is good!

Now one more question...is that Big D as in "Big D and bubba" ? the raidio hosts?? LOL

Soul Pockets said...

tahna, I am glad you enjoyed my blog. I think babysitting or visiting the elderly would be a great way to get this lesson across to our teenagers. The key word I think you used was HEART. Thanks for reading!
Kelly

Soul Pockets said...

priscilla, Thank you for reading my blog and for the compliment. I agree with everything you say. We are taking to much away from marriage and sex, like God, spiritual connection, and then we wonder where has everything gone wrong? Not to mention they way society views children. Thank you for the comment.

As for Big D. It is not for Big D and Bubba. LOL My husbands name starts with D, and sometimes I call him Big Daddy. LOL

Chris said...

I haven't seen the preview but just heard about the show today. I agree with you 100%. There are too many things not fully thought out in this concept for a television show. Out children are bombarded with the wrong images on tv as is. I don't agree with this.

Melissa said...

I agree. I don't like teaching kids that children are a burdon... I mean, they would be if you had them at 14, but still. I have a daughter and I love her to death. But she has turned my world upside down. But what makes it all worth it, is knowing that this is the creation of me and my husband. The person I love and will be with forever. Our daughter is the best of us.... that what makes having a child amazing. Not that if you had it a different way, adoption, or medically, or even by your self. But knowing that my husband and I are doing this for our child is amazing and wonderful.

And I espesally don't like the idea of tv putting on a show to help kids learn values... like hollywood ever really knew the right values. :)

Soul Pockets said...

"like Hollywood ever really knew the right values." Exactly motherhood for dummies. I agree we need to come up with something better to teach our teenagers, I just don't think this is it.

Unknown said...

I really enjoyed this take, and am personally looking forward to the show. I agree that television should not be teaching parenting, per se, but with the 17 teens in MA purposefully getting pregnant... there's already something wrong. The media has already romanticized teen pregnancy, I'm glad this little bit is trying to do it, to whatever degree it's worth.

Anonymous said...

I've been watching video clips and i'm interested for the experiment aspect of this show, but i also think it will be entertaining. here's the link to the nbc site where i've been watching clips

http://www.nbc.com/The_Baby_Borrowers/video/#mea=262962

Anonymous said...

As tahna said - 'since when can TV teach our young people....' is right on. I fear that today's parents - at least the ones I see - are me first, children second. I know there are wonderful parents out there but they seem to be far and few between. What a shame.

Grant said...

I agree with many of your points. I thought the same thing when I heard about the show, sounds interesting. But, I do wonder how, or if, they can replicate the incredibly rewarding part of parenthood. Yes, it is extremely hard, but so worth it when they are your own kids.

kristi said...

MY 16 year old niece had a baby recently. My daughter LOVES the baby but I tell her a baby is not a joke, it is hard work.

Anonymous said...

premiere episode tonight. finally after all the waiting. it airs at 9on nbc. i feel like it should be required reading for all teens. especially teens considering becoming pregnant, even casually considering it. hopefully this show will make them reconsider.

Anonymous said...

I just want to see people get pooped on!

Anonymous said...

I found this blog cause' I Google. I watched this show today for laughs. I am 20 years old, female, and do not want kids. I see nothing good about them. My boyfriend might one day but I won't deal with it, and I don't care. This show didn't change my opinions but I hoped that it changed other stupid teenagers opinions thinking they can go "play house".