Like them or not, it seems so called "reality shows" are here to stay. Now I will admit that there are some that I like to watch. The Amazing Race and The Biggest Loser are probably my favorites. I have lost a lot of weight over the past couple of years and I do like the way people's lives are transformed on The Biggest Loser.
Last night I saw a preview for a new "reality" show about teens who are put in a house with borrowed babies. The show was actually labeled in the preview as birth control. The teens are there to see what it is like to raise a kid; first a baby, then a toddler, teenager, and senior citizen. This is supposed to somehow teach them what it is like to be a parent.
There are so many ways in which this is wrong, sick and twisted. First, I want to know who would actually let their kids appear on this show? Imagine the emotional trauma the babies will go through as they are passed around to random strangers who are supposed to act like their parents. I feel so bad for the kids being used in this horrific experiment.
What really bothers me the most about what this will do to the teens, who are contestants on this show, is the false sense of parenting they will receive. It reminds me somewhat of those dolls they give to young moms to show them how hard it is to be a mom.
First of all, the teens will miss out on one of the most important and amazing parts of being a parent, the pregnancy. I remember the first time my wife and I found out she was pregnant and all of the things we did to prepare to be parents. I remember the nights in bed talking to my child still in her mom's womb, reading and singing to her and hoping to make a connection with her.
My wife was so excited to learn all about being a mom and what things she needed to do to prepare. She had such a strong emotional and spiritual connection with our daughter as her pregnancy developed. I remember the first ultra-sound pictures and taking them to my office to show everyone.
The night of my daughter's birth was one of the most amazing nights of my life. The first time I held her was something no simulation of any kind can ever come close to matching. Sitting in that room with my wife and our daughter was so amazing, it did not matter if she cried or anything, we were just so happy.
The thing this show cannot replace or simulate is that love between a parent and their child. The show can never come close to showing the teens the bonding that takes place and the intense connection that a mom and dad have with their baby.
These teens may think the baby is cute and have some emotional connection with the baby but that will fade fast. They know it is only for a short time, they probably just want to get through this experience and move on. The first time the baby starts crying and won't stop they won't have the true empathy and love a parent has for the baby, they will probably just be frustrated.
This show will succeed in scaring some teens away from wanting to be a parent, but is that really a good thing? Of course we don't want to see teens end up as single parents. Of course we want them to know that being a parent is hard work and a lot of responsibility. However, do we really want to scare them with an unrealistic experience of parenting? Do we want them to come away never wanting to have kids because they only see one small part of being a parent?
I think this show is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard of for a reality show. It is un-realistic and will do harm to both the children being used as guinea pigs and the teens who are shown a warped sense of being a parent. Being a parent is hard, very hard at times. I have five children under the age of 9 and it is a challenge. I love it so much, it is one of the greatest joys anyone can have.
This show is in my opinion, anti-life. It is just another way the world portrays children as a curse or a burden. "Children are a blessing from God, an heritage from Him" as Psalm 127 says. We already teach American youth that in the first nine months of their lives they are nothing but a leech or a blob of tissue. Then, when they are old and useless, it is o.k. to call Dr. Death to "mercy kill' them. Now we are showing them that they are nothing more than a burden, that will make us crazy for ever wanting to have had them in the first place. Do you really wonder why kids shoot up schools, kill themselves, get addicted to drugs, and end up in prison?
For Christ I stand,
Bryan Kemper
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