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The Baby Botchers

spingirl | 04 June, 2008 01:14

Have you heard about this new reality television show on NBC, The Baby Borrowers? I have to admit that I hadn’t heard about it until recently, but I am pretty much in shock about the concept. For those who aren’t in the know, 5 teenage (but adult) couples are each given a house to live in over the course of 3 weeks. The females wear an empathy belly for some time before a volunteer parent’s older infant is entrusted to each of the couples. Three days later, the infant is swapped for a toddler, then after another three days, the toddler is swapped for a pre-teen (with a pet), then another swap for a teenager, and so on. The show is billed as “an intriguing social experiment” in which “each young couple will get a unique opportunity to peer into the future and see what they (and their partners) might be like if they remain together and decide to build a family.”

Oh, whatever!


Yes, I completely get what the show is going for, but really, are these couples actually getting a chance to “peer into the future?” The first few days and weeks of marriage and parenting are NOTHING like what it ends up being. Parenting, in a lot of ways, is about endurance, especially when you have an infant. Sure, you might be able to survive a night or two (or three) with broken sleep and be ok, but what about when it’s been a couple of months? That’s when things really start to happen. And this “experience” will completely miss that.

Another thing that irritates me about this show is that the couples “must stick to rigid routines, handle the feeding chores, diaper duty and crying jags that might be shared by baby and teens.” Rigid routines? Geez, where is the reality in that? And what exactly is that supposed to teach the kids, adolescents, and young adults who might be watching this dreck – don’t follow your instincts, you should get all of your parenting advice out of a book and Super Nanny? For obvious reasons, none of these “moms” will be breastfeeding, and while, sadly, that may end up mirroring true reality, it also means that the same impressionable audience will only be exposed to babies being bottlefed.

Ten bucks says that formula companies are all over this show.

I guess what it really comes down to, for me, is that no matter how much of an “emotional, dramatic journey” the show is, it still comes down to trivializing parenting and adult responsibility because it seems to be trying to boil it down to a couple of duties. Parenting is more than just changing diapers and handling temper tantrums. It’s about growing, about becoming a better person all because of one little person who depends on you for everything. One little person who is enchanting, maddening, entertaining, loving, confusing, irritating, and amazing – often at the same time.

That’s the kind of reality that no show could ever touch.

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