Does anyone remember the high school experiment where an egg stood-in for a baby? Students had to care for the "baby" (read: don't break or scramble) for a determined amount of time and report back to the class on how much time and responsibility caring for the "baby" took. Reality television is now taking this to the next level....
NBC has an upcoming "reality" show that places several teenage couples on the "fast-track" to adulthood, in part by having them "borrow" infants (6-11 months old), toddlers, children, and then teenagers from other families. NBC hails "The Baby Borrowers" as an "intriguing social experiment," but it seems to join a growing genre of "reality" television that places American families under a microscope. While a 24 hr nanny lives in the teens' temporary homes and the real parents of the babies live next-door, what are the implications for the babies, toddlers, and children being "lent" out? Does being part of a very public "social experiment" count as entertainment, social experimentation, or exploitation? Or all of the above?
Admittedly, I'm curious. It might be funny. However, I do wonder if NBC will provide any theoretical framework for the show or will it just be fed to the public as pure entertainment (watch as Sally and Joe can't change a poopy diaper and then watch as they help "grandma" buy Depends.)?
TLC's The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom took the easy way out and provides no theoretical framework for its show on mother's faced with the timeless decision of whether to return to work or stay home and raise their children. It provides no acknowledgement of the difficulty--from both an emotional and practical standpoint-- in making such a decision on the fly, nor does it acknowledge that many women, indeed most, don't have the luxury of making such a choice. The only acknowledgement of the difficulty of this decision comes from the women themselves; cameras zoomed in on teary-eyed faces emphasize the enormity of the decision before catchy themed music cuts to commercials.
I'm not ready to jump on a conservative save-the-family bandwagon, but I am concerned about the messages that Wife Swap, Baby Borrowers, and Secret Life send about families. A previous post on raising daughters in a material age attests to the difficulty in raising a family in an age where television sends the message that it is okay for 8 year olds to have bikini waxes. Most sitcoms depict fathers as bumbling idiots not fit to be left with the children and mothers as nagging SAHMs (think Everyone Loves Raymond). Reality tv joins in with shows like The Nanny, Wife Swap, and others that rarely depict a family capable of functioning normally (whatever normal is). My own famliy may not be fit for a Leave it to Beaver type show, but we don't lend out babies or swap wives.
Maybe I'm simply watching too much tv these days! It certainly is easy to do while I nurse my daughter (who will NOT be lent out).
3 comments:
I'm not sure The Supernanny fits in this category, as the purpose of the show is to help parents figure out how to be better parents. I know that I have often done things for the sake of keeping Wild Man calm and happy, and this habit doesn't always produce the best long term effects. I've actually watched The Supernanny from time to time and found the families to be struggling with fairly normal issues, and C & I have also gotten great parenting tips from this woman--who unlike the other nannies on similar reality shows actually as a Master's degree in child psychology.
Aside from that, however, I too am bothered by the way parenthood is represented in the media, and the new show "The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom" brings all of these issues to the forefront.
Um, my very un-theoretical question is this: who are the parents of these lent-out babies? I can barely leave Sweet Baby J with a babysitter, let alone a couple of teenagers I don't know and a production staff!
Um... am I a bad parent to suggest that i would consider leaving Sweet, Baby J with these kids for a few nights, and a few nights only, to get some sleep?
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