More than a few commenters on my "pregnancy pact" post suggested that the teens in questions watch "The Baby Borrowers" – a reality show debuting tomorrow night on NBC in which five teenage couples care for, in turn, an infant, toddler, teen and older person.
Does this sound like a ginormous trainwreck to anyone else? – and not the VH1-type celeb-reality type trainwreck that's so bad it's almost funny, but an actual horrendously bad idea?
First, the idea is to let these teenage couple test out if their relationship can withstand the rigors of parenthood. Hello. I don’t need to have watched a minute of the show to tell you no they can't – and if they can, so what? Of all the people I have known through my whole long life, exactly two stayed with their high school sweethearts, and of those two, one broke up and got back together approximately eleventy thousand times throughout college and their early twenties.
Second, what kind of parents turn over any age of kids, but especially helpless babies, to teenage strangers? Apparently the babies' parents and trained childcare experts could watch every minute, but I do not care. I try to never judge other parents without knowing their whole story, but exactly how publicity whore-ish do you have to be to let a couple of unknown teens care for your baby for three whole days (and nights?)
And what if some of these kids decide that yes, they should totally have a baby with their partner. At 18. Before they've finished college or experienced much of anything. Great idea, reality TV!
I keep seeing promos for shows that cause me to turn to my husband and say "Okay, now reality TV is out of ideas. Bottom of the barrel, reached." But this is the first time I've seen the potential for great harm to vulnerable people — teens and babies alike.
Worst yet? I'll probably watch, if only in the hopes I'll get proved wrong.
