It’s Baby Sunday and usually that would mean a long “Daddy-Do” list for the hubby but today we are taking it easy and just doing small chores around the house. In fact we’re getting ready to make waffles, bacon and eggs and enjoy a leisurely Sunday morning together. However, ChitChatMom is already fired up. When I turned on the TV this morning and scanned through the guide I came upon a show on MTV called “16 and Pregnant“. I proceeded to spend the next hour watching two teenagers deal with pregnancy, child birth and being parents to a newborn. Sometimes I wonder if at 30 I’m really ready to handle being a parent. I can’t even imagine being half my age and being a parent. Watching these teeny boppers do it was both sad and frustrating. In the end I feel bad for the baby that’s being raised by two people that are still kids themselves.
Probably the most frustrating part for me (and the hubby) was watching these teenagers struggle and knowing that the last 30 seconds of the show was probably going to put a big smiley face on the whole situation. With two minutes left to go the young parents looked like they were about to break up, but in the end they were going to give it the old college try and stick it out for the baby’s sake. Of course they were… the cameras were still there. Makes me wonder what happened when the film crew hit the road?!
I just don’t think that a show like this is responsible television. While it definitely showed that the couple was having a difficult time I’m not sure that it really shined the most honest light on life as a teenage parent. They had their own apartment, their own cars. They only once had an argument about money. They weren’t running out of diapers or formula. I realize there’s only 44 or so minutes to tell the story but come on. Let’s get real people. Shows like this and People Magazine articles with a rested and peaceful looking Bristol Palin may be giving our teenagers a false sense of what being a teenage parent is really like.
What do you think? Has MTV gone too far with this series?
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