South Carolina Campaign To Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Come on NBC... really?

Posted 06/26/08

In my heart of hearts I knew it was coming. I even called Cayci – our Director of Communications – to remind her to watch the big debut. It's quite common for our office to be contacted about breaking news stories or TV show debuts so I wanted to be prepared. Even with plenty of advanced notice and planning, I hoped that it didn’t turn out like this… it took exactly 38 seconds after I walked into the office this morning for someone to ask me if I had watched “Baby Borrowers." And so, without any rationale dialogue - only teaser previews from NBC - the teen pregnancy meets reality TV era begins. For the record my response was something like – “nah, actually I forgot about it.” In truth I was watching the miracle at the College World Series that was Fresno State. In any case you now have my official disclaimer. I haven’t even seen the show yet, but I have seen enough previews and reviews of the initial episode to have an opinion about it and I think it STINKS!

According to executives at NBC, “it’s not TV, it’s birth control.” Come on NBC, really. Is that what this show is about? I doubt it. Let’s all be careful about this declaration… very, very careful. Instead, let’s be clear about what this show is – another poor attempt at reality TV, another excuse for parents to not talk to their teens about love, sex and relationships, another reason for all of us to sigh and exclaim how difficult it must be for these highly screened actors (read teens) to care for the varying age dependants they will look after as the show progresses. But, PLEASE let’s not call it birth control.

I can see and hear it now… millions of parents again taking a pass on having this all too important conversation with their children and instead defaulting to some iteration of “go watch ‘Baby Borrowers’ then you will understand why you shouldn’t have sex!” Hmmm, really? My gut tells me it is this same group of parents who scream and yell the loudest about the evilness of today’s media when Jamie Lynn Spears gets pregnant, Juno is released, naked pictures of Mylie Cyrus appear in Vanity Fair, or a frenzy ensues after a supposed pregnancy pact in Massachusetts. TV was evil yesterday, but the savior today?? Get real folks! I’ve got news for you – the media didn’t get us into this mess and one poorly scripted reality TV show surely isn’t going to get us out of it.

A dear friend and colleague of mine, Dr. David Walsh, frequently uses the quote “he who tells the stories defines the culture.” I couldn’t agree more with Dr. Walsh. Yet, we as a society, as adults, as parents have taken a total 100% pass on telling stories (hopefully non-fiction stories in this case) to youth about love, sex and relationships. The collective sigh of relief that “Baby Borrowers” is here to save the day and teach young people why it’s a bad idea to get pregnant as a teenager is disturbing at best.

Wake up America! It’s time we realized that an issue as complex as teen pregnancy requires all of us to be united in a solution-focused effort to educate young people and ensure their sexual health. It's time we realized that each of us has a critical role in the prevention of teen pregnancy. Let’s not take a pass this time. Do me a favor next week – turn off the TV at 8 pm on Wednesday and sit down with your teenager to have an open, honest discussion with them about love, sex and relationships. If you must watch the show (it is reality TV after all) then please promise me you’ll go to www.thenc.org and utilize the discussion guide that the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy has put together for parents and their children to use while watching the show. More later… I’m going to read a book!