Lisa

Last night I was flipping channels and came upon this show called
"Baby Borrowers" the title caught my eye and I hung around through
the commercials to see what it was all about. Well then it had that
train wreck affect and I couldn't turn away.

The premise of the show was to prove to teen couples that they were
incapable of taking on the responsibility of raising children... if
that isn't bad enough actual PARENTS volunteered their children to
help prove this premise!

So they have these teen couples and the parents give them their babies
.... to see how they cope and if they can do it. The parents are
watching on a tv across the street and there are nannies stationed
inside the houses at all times (UGH!) They did babies and then they
did toddlers ... the next episodes are going to be preteens and then
teens and then elderly folks. ALL of this is to prove to these teens
they can't handle responsibility!! UGH!

Anyway last night when I caught the last part they had toddlers... one
poor little fellow cried for THREE hours at bedtime... what kind of
mother sits across the street and watches her child cry for her for
that long??? The teens were trying very hard to comfort him but he
clearly (and the teens even said this during the evaluation!) wanted
HIS mom!

I thought Wife Swap was bad enough but I can't imagine volunteering
your baby for something like this... each "test" was like 3 or 4 days
long so these parents were willing to be away from their babies for
that period of time!

Lisa B

Kelly Nishan

I didn't see last nights episode but Liz (15) and I have watched the
first 2 episodes and I thought overall it was well done. When I
first heard about it I was freaked out by it but I can see they did
everything they could for it to be as positve an experience as
possible for the children and parents. The parents can go over at
any time I can't imagine why the parents of the crying child didn't
do that. Last week with the babies parents went over several times
either to give the teens advice or settle their babies down a bit.

Liz and I are watching the show together at her request so I
recorded it and will watch it next week sometime when she's home.
Liz loves kids and has a special gift with them. Although she knows
she wants to have a bunch of little unschoolers running around one
day she also knows she's not ready anytime soon. It didn't take a
tv show for her to know that but she's finding it interesting to see
how typical kids from various backrounds are adapting to the
expereince. It's led to some good conversations for us.

Kelly
--- In [email protected], "Lisa" <jlblock01@...>
wrote:
>
> Last night I was flipping channels and came upon this show called
> "Baby Borrowers" the title caught my eye and I hung around through
> the commercials to see what it was all about. Well then it had
that
> train wreck affect and I couldn't turn away.
>
> The premise of the show was to prove to teen couples that they were
> incapable of taking on the responsibility of raising children... if
> that isn't bad enough actual PARENTS volunteered their children to
> help prove this premise!
>
> So they have these teen couples and the parents give them their
babies
> .... to see how they cope and if they can do it. The parents are
> watching on a tv across the street and there are nannies stationed
> inside the houses at all times (UGH!) They did babies and then
they
> did toddlers ... the next episodes are going to be preteens and
then
> teens and then elderly folks. ALL of this is to prove to these
teens
> they can't handle responsibility!! UGH!
>
> Anyway last night when I caught the last part they had toddlers...
one
> poor little fellow cried for THREE hours at bedtime... what kind of
> mother sits across the street and watches her child cry for her for
> that long??? The teens were trying very hard to comfort him but
he
> clearly (and the teens even said this during the evaluation!)
wanted
> HIS mom!
>
> I thought Wife Swap was bad enough but I can't imagine volunteering
> your baby for something like this... each "test" was like 3 or 4
days
> long so these parents were willing to be away from their babies for
> that period of time!
>
> Lisa B
>

magnolia_academy

--- In [email protected], "Lisa" <jlblock01@...> wrote:
>
> Last night I was flipping channels and came upon this show called
> "Baby Borrowers" the title caught my eye and I hung around through
> the commercials to see what it was all about. Well then it had that
> train wreck affect and I couldn't turn away.
>
> The premise of the show was to prove to teen couples that they were
> incapable of taking on the responsibility of raising children... if
> that isn't bad enough actual PARENTS volunteered their children to
> help prove this premise!
>
> So they have these teen couples and the parents give them their babies
> .... to see how they cope and if they can do it. The parents are
> watching on a tv across the street and there are nannies stationed
> inside the houses at all times (UGH!) They did babies and then they
> did toddlers ... the next episodes are going to be preteens and then
> teens and then elderly folks. ALL of this is to prove to these teens
> they can't handle responsibility!! UGH!
>
> Anyway last night when I caught the last part they had toddlers... one
> poor little fellow cried for THREE hours at bedtime... what kind of
> mother sits across the street and watches her child cry for her for
> that long??? The teens were trying very hard to comfort him but he
> clearly (and the teens even said this during the evaluation!) wanted
> HIS mom!
>
> I thought Wife Swap was bad enough but I can't imagine volunteering
> your baby for something like this... each "test" was like 3 or 4 days
> long so these parents were willing to be away from their babies for
> that period of time!
>
> Lisa B
>
http://www.naturalchild.com/jan_hunt/baby_borrowers.html

sophiapclark

Yuck. What an awful idea. What some people will do for money...


Sophia


--- In [email protected], "Lisa" <jlblock01@...> wrote:
>
> Last night I was flipping channels and came upon this show called
> "Baby Borrowers" the title caught my eye and I hung around through
> the commercials to see what it was all about. Well then it had that
> train wreck affect and I couldn't turn away.
>
> The premise of the show was to prove to teen couples that they were
> incapable of taking on the responsibility of raising children... if
> that isn't bad enough actual PARENTS volunteered their children to
> help prove this premise!
>
> So they have these teen couples and the parents give them their babies
> .... to see how they cope and if they can do it. The parents are
> watching on a tv across the street and there are nannies stationed
> inside the houses at all times (UGH!) They did babies and then they
> did toddlers ... the next episodes are going to be preteens and then
> teens and then elderly folks. ALL of this is to prove to these teens
> they can't handle responsibility!! UGH!
>
> Anyway last night when I caught the last part they had toddlers... one
> poor little fellow cried for THREE hours at bedtime... what kind of
> mother sits across the street and watches her child cry for her for
> that long??? The teens were trying very hard to comfort him but he
> clearly (and the teens even said this during the evaluation!) wanted
> HIS mom!
>
> I thought Wife Swap was bad enough but I can't imagine volunteering
> your baby for something like this... each "test" was like 3 or 4 days
> long so these parents were willing to be away from their babies for
> that period of time!
>
> Lisa B
>

Kelly Nishan

--- In [email protected], "sophiapclark"
<sophiapclark@...> wrote:
>
> Yuck. What an awful idea. What some people will do for money...
>
>
> Sophia
>
>
No one got paid for it. There is no prize, no competition, no
eiliminations. However strange it may seem I think most people got
involved with it because they thought for them it was a good thing to
do.
Kelly

Ren Allen

~~No one got paid for it. There is no prize, no competition, no
eiliminations.~~

People almost ALWAYS get paid for being on any kind of reality show. I
was approached by Wife Swap and it's a cool $20,000 for less than a
week of your life. They don't talk about that part on the shows, but
the networks make a fortune from most of those shows so they happily
pay the participants a nice sum because it's a helluva lot cheaper
than paying an actor.

That Baby Borrowers sounds absolutely horrid and I can't imagine any
responsible parent agreeing to do that to their child.

Ren
learninginfreedom.com

barbara emrich

"Absolutely horrid" is a great description. It must be parents who already
let their kids "cry it out" and have very limited attachment to their
babies. Such people could easily be convinced of the merits of such a
deplorable show.
Barb

On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 9:18 PM, Ren Allen <starsuncloud@...> wrote:

> ~~No one got paid for it. There is no prize, no competition, no
> eiliminations.~~
>
> People almost ALWAYS get paid for being on any kind of reality show. I
> was approached by Wife Swap and it's a cool $20,000 for less than a
> week of your life. They don't talk about that part on the shows, but
> the networks make a fortune from most of those shows so they happily
> pay the participants a nice sum because it's a helluva lot cheaper
> than paying an actor.
>
> That Baby Borrowers sounds absolutely horrid and I can't imagine any
> responsible parent agreeing to do that to their child.
>
> Ren
> learninginfreedom.com
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Faith Void

It would be nice if they had a show that showed how it is hard work to care
for another human that is totally dependent on you but that it is rewarding.
If TV showed attachment parenting and supporting parenting then more people
might want to have kids and be inspired to be better parents. I think most
teens would want to wait for babies if they were loved and supported. Our
society isn't geared for teens being mamas/papas. But I don't think they
need to be scared into not (possibly ever) breeding!
Faith

On Fri, Jul 11, 2008 at 12:26 AM, barbara emrich <barbaraemrich@...>
wrote:

> "Absolutely horrid" is a great description. It must be parents who
> already
> let their kids "cry it out" and have very limited attachment to their
> babies. Such people could easily be convinced of the merits of such a
> deplorable show.
> Barb
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 9:18 PM, Ren Allen <starsuncloud@...<starsuncloud%40comcast.net>>
> wrote:
>
> > ~~No one got paid for it. There is no prize, no competition, no
> > eiliminations.~~
> >
> > People almost ALWAYS get paid for being on any kind of reality show. I
> > was approached by Wife Swap and it's a cool $20,000 for less than a
> > week of your life. They don't talk about that part on the shows, but
> > the networks make a fortune from most of those shows so they happily
> > pay the participants a nice sum because it's a helluva lot cheaper
> > than paying an actor.
> >
> > That Baby Borrowers sounds absolutely horrid and I can't imagine any
> > responsible parent agreeing to do that to their child.
> >
> > Ren
> > learninginfreedom.com
> >
> >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>



--
www.bearthmama.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Lisa

Last night I caught the two first episodes with the babies on WE
network... I wanted to give it my honest opinion since I hadn't seen
those episodes and someone had said they didn't find it as
objectionable as I had found the toddler one.
WELL... I found that episode even more horrible! Who lets someone
else "borrow" their 6 month old infant for 3 days?? I found it
incredible that it seemed that not one of those babies was
breastfed!!! Some were older babies but still I was shocked enough
that not one of the 2 and not quite two yr old were nursing but that
all those babies were having bottles and formula really bothered me.
Not to mention the parents as they sat and watched and one commented
"OH if you hold him he will NEVER go to sleep" and another that said
" he usually sleeps until about 7am but we let him stay in the crib a
while longer after he wakes up" The parents also gave a short
statement of why they allowed their baby to be part of the show.. most
were along the lines of "not many people get a chance to try before
you buy, parenting is hard and people might not jump into it if they
knew how hard it is"

I will have to say that as shocking as I find the parents of the
babies and that whole concept the thing as it relates to unschooling
that bothers me the most is the premise of the show.

How disrespectful is it to base a show(or anything ) on PROVING to
someone else that they are incapable of something?? Is the idea to
prove to teens that not a single one of them could EVER step up to the
plate and be a good parent should they have an unplanned pregnancy??
What does some teen girl who finds herself pregnant do after being
part of this show or watching this show?? Give her baby away or have
an abortion just based on a tv show that clearly proved that teens are
incapable of parenting??? I do know some folks that were teen parents
and most of them stepped up to the plate and are great parents... I
know a few teens currently that are parents and are doing a good
job... they know it's hard but they are doing their best and raising
loved children. Most are doing a better job than alot of parents I
know that planned to have children and should be mature enough and
"settled" enough to do a good job but aren't!

How would we like it if our spouse or other family member set out to
prove to us that we were incapable of something... how loved and
respected would we feel??

Yes the show does show how hard it is... but it's not very realistic
... the first episode they were supposed to wear a pregnancy belly for
3 days and one girl refused because her boyfriend laughed at her and
she didn't want anyone to see her like that. Another of the girls
refused to take care of the baby after the mother came over and
corrected her regarding feeding the baby and left all the care to the
boyfriend. And I don't get why they are going to have teens parent
preteens, teens and take care of elderly folks. If it's in the
process of parenting is hard for teens wouldn't it be absurd that a
teen would parent a preteen or another teen? If you had a baby as a
teen when the child was a preteen and teen you would be older etc...
that part I didn't get but perhaps I am missing some part of the
premise.

There are redeeming parts of the show... some of the parents are
giving the teens pretty good advice and encouragement but it would
seem to be a better idea to have a teen shadow a parent for a period
of time rather than put a baby through being handed over to a
inexperienced stranger who is given only a notebook user's manual all
in the name of a social experiment.

I found it interesting also that when the teen's parents were allowed
a short visit most of them had poor relationships and were barely
speaking. A few (who were some of the teens that did best with the
children) had good positive parents but most were just there to say "I
told you so".

I just find it sad.

Lisa Blocker

Matt & Jessica

I had quite a few problems with the show too.

First, I agree with Ren that they are definitely getting paid. I don't think good intentions are any part of this show.

Second, I actually think that the woman who had her baby (I think the babies name was Ata) and then her toddler son (can't remember his name) on the show both weeks breastfeeds. I swear (and I may be wrong) that she was nursing Ata when she was talking to the teens at the end of the show. She also carried her in the beginning IN a sling. My first comment was if that baby is used to being attached to Mom or Dad it is going to be SO much harder. I honestly don't see how a typical attached baby COULD be on this show. My baby would have been HORRIBLE and she was typically quite easy for my standard (which is holding her all the time anyway).
My biggest problem with this show is the fact that it does NOT give teens a good overall look at what being a parent is like. I am sorry but you can NOT know what being a parent is like until you are one. Other people's kids are NOT your baby. At 6-18 months a baby has already bonded completely with their parents, they have exact needs and wants. Most babies like things done a certain way usually by their parent. I don't think watching someone else's child shows you how it will be with your own child someday. My child was so easy for my husband and I, and yet I am sure she would have been difficult for anyone else.
Older children might be easier to give you an opinion on parenting them, but I agree that giving teens, other teens is ridiculous.
I can't imagine any amount of money being enough to let me give over my child. I don't care if I am next door and there is a nanny there. I personally believe an infant should be with a parent, but I know many parents are okay with their babies staying other places so this wouldn't be a far stretch I am sure. Especially when they can "say" it is for the "education" of these teens. :)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Shannon Lynn

I agree 100%
Yes parenting is hard but what are we teaching future parents? This
show is a bad set up for these teens.
Parenting can be very enjoyable when they are your own but to take an
infant away from what they are use to and throw them inot the arms of a
stranger in a strange place is not a good way to teach teens about
parenting.
Shalyn

--- In [email protected], "Matt & Jessica"
<mjmcchesney@...> wrote:
>
> I had quite a few problems with the show too.
>

>