The Baby Borrowers: Will the Real Babies Please Stand Up
Are These People Prepared for Parenthood?
Last night, NBC premiered The Baby Borrowers, an adaptation of a U.K. reality series that’s being promoted as a form of birth control. Of course, the clever marketing jab is aimed at naive young adults who’ve deluded themselves into thinking they’re capable of successfully raising a child.
After watching the first episode, though, I think “birth control” would be a better form of advice for the parents of the young adults because some of them clearly haven’t done a swell job of raising the participants. If it’s not one immature girl (Georgia’s 18-year-old Kelly) having a petulant, near nervous breakdown over wearing a fake pregnancy belly for one measly day, then it’s another immature girl (Houston’s 18-year-old Alicea) copping an attitude because her surrogate baby’s mother actually cares when her infant is mistreated and has to endure Alicea’s filthy mouth.
And the girls aren’t the only ones who raise eyebrows. New Hampshire’s 18-year-old Sean bonds with his temporary child, although he can’t seem to drop the habit of referring to the girl as an it. Then there’s his idiotic suggestion that he and his girlfriend just let the baby cry all night in another room when she won’t calm down.
Goodness gracious! If 40 really is the new 20 and so on, The Baby Borrowers indicates that 18 is the new 10. It’s so easy to rag on the show’s competitors not only because they’re putting themselves out there for criticism by participating in the series, but also because too many of them come across as not much more than babies themselves.
On the up side, overall, the males have a firmer grip on maturity than the females; I didn’t see that coming. Praise goes to Georgia’s 18-year-old Austin, California’s 19-year-old Daton, and Texas’ 20-year-old Cory, all of whom have to put up with girlfriends who seem light-years behind them in the adulthood department.
Based on the first episode alone, the couple best prepared for parenthood are 18-year-old Texans Jordan and Sasha. I could imagine them becoming successful teen parents, but because they do appear so responsible and mature, I hope they’re also smart enough to eventually realize there’s no rush to start a family.
The Baby Borrowers is the kind of reality show I can stick with, which I plan to do. Yet as the season progresses, it would be nice to see my negative opinions of certain participants proved wrong. If not and the juvenile behavior they’ve demonstrated thus far is the norm for people in their age group, society has a lot more to be worried about than just them procreating.
The Baby Borrowers currently airs Wednesdays on NBC at 8pm 9pm EST
The Baby Borrowers photo courtesy of Tommy Baynard/NBC
