Thursday, July 3, 2008

Baby Borrowers

Last night Phat Daddy and I turned the tv on for a little bit of mindless tv.
The show Baby Borrowers was on. I was curious, and Phat Daddy didn't care. At first I was interested, but as the show went on I got more and more annoyed. The premise is that a few sets of teen couples get to live in a house and see what it's like to have a baby. All of these couples (I think there were 4 couples) expressed interest in having children young. So, this was a trial run.
It's not that I don't agree with the idea.
In fact, my high school had those dolls that cry at night and you have to take care of. It's a great idea. You get an idea about parenthood without actually being parents.
But ... WHO LENDS OUT THEIR BABY???
Okay, so I know you leave your child with teenage babysitters. I'm a working mom and I leave my child - and will leave both kids - with a caregiver. But, I would never ever lend my baby out to a couple of teenagers who think they are ready for a baby.
Now, granted the parents are allowed to watch their baby on the tv. But still.
It would kill me.
Two of the couples were HORRIBLE. One of the couples kept swaring at and in front of the baby and calling it a brat. Another couple were arguing about who had to get up to take care of the screaming baby. All the while the parents were observing this over the tv.
Seriously. I was angry.
The worst, in my opinion, were the parents who left their teething child. The poor kid was miserable. Yes, he gave the teenagers a run for their money. But it was awful. They were annoyed and angry and frustrated.
When Doodle was teething he wanted me more than ever. Sure I was ready to scream most of the time, and I handed him off to my husband and parents and sister a lot. I did not hand him over to teenagers to see if they were ready for a baby. Really.
And then in the middle of the show the moms of the teenage girls were allowed to visit. Serioulsy. what about the mommies of the babies. It made me feel terrible. The whole time I kept turning to Phat Daddy saying "who would let their kid go?"
I just do not understand. Sure, I watched. But it was more like watching a car wreck. I really don't believe that watching this show will prevent teenage pregnancies. You know why? Because as one teen put it - their child would be different.
Stupid stupid show.
Some parents just really piss me off. If you want to do a reality show, fine, but don't involve you innocent little baby. At the end of the day I just wanted to hug my baby and my preschooler more.

2 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

I haven't seen this show, but I've heard some people talk about it. You're the first one to explain the concept so clearly.

Holy crap.

I don't get it either. I can't imagine leaving my kid with a babysitter we don't know, let alone two teenagers (who you know the producers chose because they will fail miserably).

LoriD said...

I watched it too... it was like watching a train wreck.

I can't imagine a scenario where I would feel comfortable letting my child be treated so poorly for 3 days. Two of the teen couples were good, but the other two (one in particular) were so awful, I would have gone in there and rescued my baby after day 1.