sixteen and pregnant = teen moms

I don’t know if I should be admitting this, but my husband and I got hooked on MTV’s Sixteen and Pregnant last year in its first season. It was so interesting to watch how these teenagers dealt with the pregnancies, I actually cried during the episode following the couple who chose adoption. This season was even better when MTV followed up with Teen Mom. Every Tuesday my husband and I enjoy watching as 7 teenagers are thrown into parenthood during a time when their friends are leaving for college and partying until the wee hours of the morning.

You have Farrah who is living at home with her parents and no help or communication with the baby’s daddy. She goes out often and is desperately searching for a new daddy for her baby girl. It is so awkward watching her throw herself into relationships with guy after guy, looking for someone to fill the position. Not to mention the fact that her parents are constantly babysitting while she reminds them that she’s “just a teenager.” I understand that she is trying to cope, and that it is scary doing it without the father, but she lost the right to be “just a teenager” when she got pregnant.

Then there is the couple who find themselves bickering constantly, with the mom battling a bit of depression. She struggles to get her GED while he (Gary) works and is often lazy while at home. I now love to tease my husband and often call him Gary when he hesitates to do something around the house.

Then you have the couple with the supermom who has her priorities strait as she starts taking online classes and keeps all of her focus centered around her little boy. The only problem is that her “fiance” is a bum with know desire to spend one-on-one time with his son. Not to mention the fact that he likes to stay out all night with his friends at the club.

And then there is the couple that I really feel for, the two who chose to put their little girl up for adoption. They both seem so sweet, and they have so much love for the baby they put up for adoption, you can tell they weren’t 100% certain they wanted to let her go. It is heart wrenching to watch them deal with the aftermath of the adoption process, not to mention the fact that there own parents are a mess.

I completely understand that MTV reality shows involved a lot of editing to create a more interesting show, but I think it is a great show to teach teenagers just how important it is to be responsible. Life as a teen parent is not glamorized in any way on the show, but you get to see the struggles of real life teens. As a mom watching these 17, 18, and 19 year old moms, I don’t know how they are doing it. Being a mother is not easy now, I can’t imagine what it would have been like when I was in high school.

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