Another reality show has hit the ether. 'I'm having their baby' is about pregnant women (actually stupid girls) having babies and giving them up for adoption. Well, at least they are not keeping them -- one of the main causes of child poverty. By the way, why is it that we can never blame teenage mothers for contributing in a major way to child poverty? But I digress...............
These girls get pregnant. They then go to an adoption agency, where they pour over binders prepared by desperate, infertile couples putting themselves forward as potential parents. "I don't like the look of that one," says one teen. "I don't like their house," says another. I mean, come on. It is so sad for the couples, who have to try and impress a vacuous teen to maybe choose them as the parents....please, please.
When I was adopted, the whole thing was decided before I was born. That's how it was done. My birth mother, Shirley, had no say and the process worked perfectly. It wasn't about Shirley, it was about what was best for me. If you were putting your baby up for adoption, the system took over. The mother didn't study binders and photos. She didn't meet the potential parents to approve or veto their application. The idea was to give the baby up without ties, with no knowledge of what happened to the baby. You "got into trouble" and the system solved your problem. Plain and simple.
In my case, I was determined in later life to get to my roots. Luckily, and with a bit of chicanery, I succeeded. Sadly, my birth mother had died, but I did meet her brothers and sister. While they will never be my family, I am grateful I know who they are. As to my birth father? Well, that's another story.........
One of the saddest scenes in the episode of 'I'm having their baby' was the delivery room, where the "approved" parents participated in the whole process, only to be told a few days later that the mother had changed her mind. These parents had everything ready for the baby. Imagine what it must have done to them to have been rejected after they thought everything had been decided. It was appalling. The 17-year-old mother is keeping the kid.
Poor kid, is all I can say.
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How sad. I guess the days of "Leave it to Beaver" or "Bill Cosby Huxtable", where a lesson was taught each episode are long gone.
ReplyDeleteReality television brings out the basest of our personalities, from the shotgun shack of Honey Boo Boo - which I am ashamed to admit is filmed in a town thirty miles south of me - to the mansions of the Real Housewives.
I am thankful that I am old and can hide my head in the sand by watching the Retro channel or Turner Classic Movies. Films like Vertigo, Charade, An Affair to Remember or Gigi.
Movies where men had morals and women wore hats and heels.
I agree, TCM holds a special appeal. Back then, men and women knew what and who they were and courtesy abounded.
Deletep.s. If you like hats, have a look at my blog of 8/8/12, entitled "Hats". I also love gloves of any kind -- especially the long evening variety.