The Baby Borrowers

Here’s a reality show I can actually get behind:NBC’s The Baby Borrowers takes real couples, aged 18-20, and basically gives them a 3 week boot camp in the responsibilities of parenthood. The couple is set up in a house in Boise, ID, one partner needs to get a job, and they are “loaned” a 6-11 month old baby for three eye-opening and often emotionally exhausting days. Then the baby is taken away, and they are left with a toddler for 3 days. The cycle continues, getting more difficult every three days as the children get older (as old as teenagers) and pets and old people are added to the fray. After all the news about Jamie Lynn Spears and the high school pregnancy pact in Massachusetts, I think it’s great for teen couples to get a chance to see what parenthood is really, really like before the jump into it with both feet.

Some people have a lot of problems with the concept for The Baby Borrowers, and I can understand that on some level. I don’t think I would want random teenagers that I know nothing about man-handling my offspring, either, and I certainly wouldn’t allow it to be televised. I would think, though, that there is some sort of vetting process that goes on prior to casting to ensure that the children will be safe with these teens. Some of the concerns are really far-fetched as well. For example, a ten year old in the British version of the show apparently said he didn’t eat all day because the teenagers in charge of him “forgot” to feed him. Ummmmm….yeah. Unless that kid has some developmental problems, he’s just lazy. I know plenty of 10 year olds that would at least take that opportunity to binge on chips and cookies and snack food, if not make themselves a sandwich. Or would have been whiny brats until someone actually fed them. Or would have taken money out of one of the teenagers’ wallets and ridden their bike to McDonald’s and bought themselves a Happy Meal. But they would get fed. And frankly, I think the concerns about the kids in the show developing “issues” from this experience are way overblown. Kids get left with babysitters and other caregivers all the time, sometimes for 3 days in a row, and usually it’s a bigger deal for the mom than it is the kids. If the parents are always leaving the kids with random people, I could see the kid having some problems. But if it is for 3 days, and the parents have video baby monitors set up right next door and can step in at any time, I think they’ll be fine.

At any rate, The Baby Borrowers starts Wednesday, June 25th at 9PM on NBC, if you want to check it out.