Week after week  people tune into tv to watch two of my favorite shows.  16 and Pregnant, and its spinoff series, Teen Mom.  The shows follow 16 year olds who are pregnant.  Maybe it is my age speaking, but part of me hopes that young girls watching this will notice the bad things that happen to some of these girls.  Some are put out of their parents' homes, their boyfriends are lazy and refuse to work or help with the baby, their friends distance themselves (or their friends' parents won't allow them to be around these teenage mothers), and they miss many of the most exciting parts of being a teen.  But in reality, I know many of them will not see it that way. 

While I'm sure (or at least I hope) that MTV did not set out to glorify teen pregnancy, many viewers (and non-viewers) believe that is what happening.  One of the most popular teens from the show, Amber, has been in some legal troubles lately, and faced with losing custody of her daughter, she revealed that she ears $280,000 a year from being on the show.  Many are worried that teens will try to get pregnant because they can be on tv, get fans, and make a 6 figure salary just by being a mom. 

I am not sure where I stand.  Probably the best way to explain it is that I am on the fence.  I'd like to think that these girls had common sense to realize that not every girl who gets pregnant at 16 gets to be on a television program and make money.  I'd like to think that some of them would see that having a baby won't guarentee that your boyfriend sticks around, and that your parents won't always be there to babysit.  But I also know that some girls will not look at it that way.  If you think back to the girls who made the pregnancy pact, and the school that's been in the news lately with 90 pregnant teens , then you know that clearly some girls are looking at teen pregnancy through rose-colored glasses.  At this point I'm just glad that I don't have a teenage sister, and I pray that these teens figure out that having a kid is hard, at ANY age, and much harder when you are very young.  

Let's All Have Babies! We can dress them in cute outfits!

So a Saturday or two ago I watched the "Pregnancy Pact" movie on Lifetime.  Surely you remember in the last few years that some teen girls up in Massachusetts decided that they'd all have babies.  They wanted the unconditional love and someone to dress up in cute outfits and they could all raise their kids together.

 Let me first say I've been there.  I have ALWAYS wanted a baby, but I knew that it wasn't just like playing with a doll, so no matter how strong the desire was, I waited. I had people who talked some sense into me.

The problem here is that these girls thought it would be a cake walk.  You dress up in matching outfits and take your kid to the park and everything is peachy! But it's not! And I can only hope that any teens out there wanting babies saw this and realized it's not the greatest idea! What if your baby is born sick? What if the daddy leaves? What if your family abandons you? So many things can go wrong in that equation.

i think the moral is that parents need to talk to their kids more about sex. Not just telling them not to do it- because that won't work- but also letting them know what kind of consequences are in store for them.  Find a teen mom that is struggling, and let them spend the day with her to see what could be their fate.  But also let them know that if they decide to use sex, to just protect themselves. "Here's some condoms just in case. Don't bring me no babies."