Have you seen "16 & Pregnant"?

[minkydog]

I caught this show yesterday, I think its on MTV. It was pretty even-handed without being at all preachy. My 16yo daughter watched it with me and was pretty horrified at the things this girl went through.

The story was about a 16yo cheerleader, the whole school finds out and her friends begin acting weird around her. They don't want to hear about this baby because they're all into their normal 16yr old stuff and the girl really wants to date and go to parties,too, but of course, everybody knows she's pregnant and they're still acting weird about it.

But the part that really got my daughter's attention was when the girl goes into labor! I don't think this girl had aaaannnyy childbirth preparation--she just seemed clueless. Her water broke in her bed(eww~), she goes to the hospital where she labors painfully for a long time until she can get the epidural. She's crying, she feels sick, it's not fun. They showed her getting the epidural, the long needle, et al, and DD just about fainted! Then came the pushing and she's got the doctor and all the nurses looking and feeling her you know what--I thought DD was going to die right there. Then the baby comes out and it looks like a newborn baby, covered with stuff.

I thought the best part was the last 20 minutes though--teh new mom brings the baby home. The crib is in her bedroom and her mother just lets her deal with the baby, all night long. Every night. The girl protests, but her mother has a life and she's not about to give it up to raise her daughter's baby. The girl is trying to finish school, go back to work and raise the baby. And it's hard. Very hard. The girl wants her old life back, but of course her life has changed forever. The friends come over and beg her to go out with them and all she wants to do is sleep for 2 hours.

At the end the girl is hugging the baby, saying she wouldn't give anything for her. But she admits, having a baby at 16 was a very bad decision and has made every part of her life harder.

This was well worth the time it took to watch. Seeing a real girl go through this gave my daughter and I the opportunity to talk about the facts of life. Not the mechanics, she's got that. But the emotional side. How intimacy during high school complicates things. This girls boyfriend was out of the picture before she even got the postive test. It opened the door for an honest discussion about being committed to a relationship before you take that big step and that I would hope she would wait until she's in college, at least. I'm sure DD was rolling her eyes at times, but it needed to be said and I'm glad the program kinda pushed the subject for us.

 

[mariolatry]

Amen, sister.

Unfortunately, the first episode (the one where they named the kid Bentley Cadence) showed the Grandmother provided free daycare for the child all day, five days a week so that the new mom could go to school, be on a dance team, etc.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I watch it with DD and made sure to make it even more realistic. EX: pushing the after-birth. At this point DD16 told me to NOT expect any grandkids! I am happy with that at this time in her life.

 

[minkydog]

Amen, sister.

Unfortunately, the first episode (the one where they named the kid Bentley Cadence) showed the Grandmother provided free daycare for the child all day, five days a week so that the new mom could go to school, be on a dance team, etc.

Wouldn't happen in my house. You have a baby, you raise the baby. I've raised a 22yo and a 16yo, and I have a 14yo who is severely mentally handicapped and will be our responsibility until the day we die. Nope, I don't need any more babies.

 

[Piecey]

I'm 22 and my labor experience scared my best friend away from having babies... and also scared the crap out of my 18 year old cousin who sat in the waiting room for most of my labor.

I might have to check out this show! I like the sounds of the episode OP described a lot more than PP...

 

[SandrA9810]

The next 20/20 episode is about high school students getting pregnant. That interests me a little more than the MTV version. But I think they both probably have good points.

I was 14 when my sister had her first kid (19 and the father ditched). It actually didn't gross me out very much and I was there the whole time. I still knew at that point that I wanted to be out of high school and married. But it never gave me that, cross your legs forever feeling.

 

[pearlieq]

I watched it too and thought it would be a wonderful thing for a teenager to watch.

Very real, very matter-of-fact depiction of what happens when a teenage girl gets pregnant without being preachy or forcing an agenda.

 

[saratogadreamin09]

The next 20/20 episode is about high school students getting pregnant. That interests me a little more than the MTV version. But I think they both probably have good points.

I was 14 when my sister had her first kid (19 and the father ditched). It actually didn't gross me out very much and I was there the whole time. I still knew at that point that I wanted to be out of high school and married. But it never gave me that, cross your legs forever feeling.

The 20/20 is going to be on secret teen sex lives also. It focuses on how teens ae having sex and there parents have no idea then they come home pregnant

 

[rcraw45425]

I'm watching right now. There were a few scary moments like when she left the baby laying on the dining table whiles she went to heat the bottle or something, nothing to prevent roll off. HEr grandpa told her that it wouldn't be long before she couldn't do that, lol. Another thing that really bothered me (and this is small) was the fact that during the night she didn't pick up the baby when it cried, just let it lay in the crib while she held the bottle in it's mouth!

 

[powellrj]

There is a local girl that is being featured on it. I haven't seen the show, but the girl was interviewed for the newspaper and couldn't believe how clueless she was. Her and her boyfriend were going to get married anyway and she plans to finish school and all will be good.

 

[cruisnfamily]

Curious about this show. I googled it and it seems to be different teens all the time...is it a reality show kinda thing? Does it glorify things or present skewed views, you know, like the "my sweet sixteen" kind of shows? I'd only want to watch it(and have DD16 watch it) if it shows teen pregnancy in a really yucky light. Can anybody tell me more about this?

 

[alexandria674]

Curious about this show. I googled it and it seems to be different teens all the time...is it a reality show kinda thing? Does it glorify things or present skewed views, you know, like the "my sweet sixteen" kind of shows? I'd only want to watch it(and have DD16 watch it) if it shows teen pregnancy in a really yucky light. Can anybody tell me more about this?

I have watched the show and it seems to be pretty good in terms of showing how it is for a teen mom. The episode I watched had the cheerleading teen who seemed to be going through a lot of drama and knew how it felt to be stigmatized in school. It didn't glorify the pregnancy but it didn't make someone grow fearful of ever having a kid in their life by showing really graphic images. I think the real drama began once the baby was born because the mother and the teenager seemed to be going head to head all of the time and it also showed how the teen mother has struggled with balancing a baby and her own life at the same time.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

I caught part of it, my DD13 was watching it... I think it's good for them to see.

She was in the room when I had my last two... at age 12 and 13... she says "Ouch, that's why if I have ANY, I'm only having one"

 

[browneyes106]

I have watched both episodes. I thought the girl in the first episode who was going to school and on the dance team seemed to have her life on track. Her boyfriend was jerk. The girl in the more recent episode seemed to be really clueless. I like this show it's probably one of the better reality shows. It sort of reminds me of True Life.

 

[CF'er]

I wouldn't say yucky and I wouldn't say Super Sweet 16 either. Somewhere in between.

I liked on the first one how the girl got the dose of "baby daddy" reality when she was doing all the sacraficing while he got his guy time. Even while he was at home.

The last episode I like the scene where the 16yo asks the mom to help her at night and the mom said No. There were many times during that episode that I wanted to scream "Well you should have thought of that!!!" The whole breastfeeding talk with the Dr. cracked me up too.

 

[Shelton123]

This show was created to tell teens not to get pregnent... like that will work. This only tells kids "If you get pregnant, you have lots of consequences. The BIGGEST one is that you'll get paid to have a show on MTV and be famous." Yeah, that'll work

 

[HelenePA]

Have you seen the one where the baby is a few months old? It broke my heart.. she is SO clueless on how to be a parent.. leaves the baby on the couch lying on its belly while its crying, she just sits there picks her nails because her bf leaves and goes bowling or something..I for one am glad that her mom takes care of him while she is in school. I think my kids know more about babies than she does.. I didn't see the one where she has him but my kids have seen all the birth shows on Discovery Health they aren't grossed out by it at all.. I got asked about a gazillion questions while I was preg with Anthony. They all know just about everything there is to birthing babies. I am looking forward to grandchildren when my kids are 25.. no babies allowed til then. I hope and pray they are older than 16.

 

[pearlieq]

This show was created to tell teens not to get pregnent... like that will work. This only tells kids "If you get pregnant, you have lots of consequences. The BIGGEST one is that you'll get paid to have a show on MTV and be famous." Yeah, that'll work

I don't know about all that. I watched the cheerleader episode. I honestly couldn't tell you the girl's name, where she lives, or much else about her.

I don't think she's getting a movie deal out of this. She appeared in a documentary. It's not a ticket to fame.

 

[pigletgirl]

The cheerleader girl to me, seemed like she was pretty much on her own when it came to the care of her baby. Her mom didn't do much to step in, and do alot of the work, even when she begged.

A big mistake = a big consequence.

 

[kellyg403]

The cheerleader girl to me, seemed like she was pretty much on her own when it came to the care of her baby. Her mom didn't do much to step in, and do alot of the work, even when she begged.

A big mistake = a big consequence.

I haven't had the chance to watch the show, but I think I will look for it and view it with the girls.

I do know that the hardest thing a mother can do is let her 'children' raise their own children when it looks like they aren't ready. I will also say one of the best things I ever did was let them do it when I realized I was delaying the process for my grandson. Parenting is for life, better figure it out pretty quickly!

Kelly