A few weeks (maybe months) back there was some discussion about the
"reality" show Baby Borrowers, about parents loaning their babies to
teens for few days/weeks to show them the realities of raising kids.
There was a review of the show in the Boston Globe today, I thought
some of you would be interested in seeing it. The reviewers had some
of the same concerns we did about the show.
Naomi
There's much to cry about in NBC's 'Baby Borrowers' - The Boston Globe
There's much to cry about in NBC's 'Baby Borrowers'
By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff | June 25, 2008
The influential 1978 documentary "Scared Straight" warned young
delinquents away from jail by letting convicts lecture them on the
nightmares of prison life. "The Baby Borrowers," a new NBC reality
show based on a British series, tries to freak out five teen couples
by steeping them in the responsibilities of pregnancy and parenthood.
It's "Scared Abstinent" or, to others, "Scared Protected."
Each teen couple is put up in their own suburban McHome on a pristine
cul-de-sac, where they are subjected to a series of three-day tests.
First they must care for an infant, then a toddler, then a preteen,
then a teen, and finally an elderly person. Presumably, the
psychological obstacle course, which begins tonight at 9 on Channel 7,
will ultimately steer the kids away from the denial they may have
about the difficulties of early pregnancy. NBC is giving them what the
narrator calls "a great big dose of real life" - reality style, of
course, beginning with 24 hours in a bulky pregnancy simulator.
But forget about the teens who may regard 17-year-old Jamie Lynn
Spears, who gave birth last week, as a role model, or the girls in
Gloucester who allegedly made a pregnancy pact. For me, "The Baby
Borrowers" serves primarily as a meta-cautionary tale about the
strange decisions of those who involve themselves in reality TV.
I don't think I'll be alone in my preoccupation with the true parents
of the infants on the show - the owners of the borrowed babies. These
new parents are meant to be supporting characters, appearing only
occasionally to advise the pimply stars. And yet I couldn't stop
thinking about them. Maybe they've loaned their babies to unknown
teens for three days for the betterment of society, but still, they're
loaning their babies.
"The Baby Borrowers" does allow these real parents to monitor their
child via hidden camera, and there is a professional nanny on hand in
each home. But still, they're loaning their babies. I couldn't shake it.
In the second episode, the narrator reminds us that these real parents
are letting the teens experiment on "their most precious thing of
all." Thing?
Anyhow, the teens predictably struggle with the responsibilities of
child care. There's as much crying and whining by the couples as there
is by the babies. In a twist, a couple from New Hampshire seems to
trade roles. Sean begins the show uninterested in having kids, while
Kelsey is all maternal longing. But their loaner baby cottons to Sean,
leaving Kelsey out in the cold.
Meanwhile, a moody teen named Alicea decides to pull back from the
experiment once her loaner infant's mother gives her a talking-to.
When the show requires one member of the couple to go to work, she
can't get out of the house fast enough. She doesn't like being yelled
at, and especially, I imagine, by a mother who is letting strangers
care for her baby.
Matthew Gilbert can be reached at [log in to unmask] For more on TV,
visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog.
------------------------------------------
Naomi Bar-Yam Ph.D.
Executive Director
Mothers' Milk Bank of New England
[log in to unmask]
617-964-6676
www.milkbankne.org
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