Teen Mom

Tazzal · June 2011

I know some of you on this board like the show. Based on the media exposure the teen moms have garnered as a result of the series, I assumed (there's that word again...) the show was glorifying teen pregnancy in some way. Perhaps not the experience itself, but the getting pregnant as an adolescent part. Seeing as they're now gracing the covers of magazines.

I was rightly called out on judging something without watching it first, so I'm searching for an episode to watch now. I'm curious as to what longer-time fans of the series think--good, realistic portrayal (as far as anyone can tell) or just fun to watch for the drama?

Sweet_Adeline · June 2011

You really can't go wrong with the first season. It's like a Whiskey-Tango extravaganza.

MrsDixie · June 2011

I watch it. I think it is pretty realistic as far as I can tell. Sure it is dramatic but teenage girls are dramatic in general. Add hormones and camera... kaboom! I have a few family members who are teen moms and their lives revolve around baby daddy drama like most of the girls on the show. I'm not into most reality TV like Desperate Housewives or Jersey Shore, but once I saw an episode of this I was hooked.

MrsRachelAnn · June 2011

It's one of my guilty pleasures! I like the original girls the best. DH is not a fan haha! I love watching anything about babies, but I've noticed that Teen Mom and 16 & pregnant have stopped focussing so much on the adorable babes and more on how hard it is on the moms and the families.

huskymomma94 · June 2011

Just fun to watch for the drama, mostly.

RedSoxGal23 · June 2011

It's my guilty pleasure. DH hates it and won't even sit in a room where he can hear it if I am watching it. I personally like it for all the drama that goes on. It's better than a soap opera!

Tazzal · June 2011

Thanks, ladies

I'm looking forward to checking it out.

CallieSam · June 2011

I've seen a few episodes but they always make me so sad for the babies. Jersey Shore is my train wreck show of choice.

brookelynpaisley · June 2011

Sweet_Adeline:
You really can't go wrong with the first season. It's like a Whiskey-Tango extravaganza.

Ditto. I don't think Teen Mom itself glorifies pregnancy itself at all. Those moms generally really struggle. They're children in very adult situations with a child to take care of. I think the media is what glorifies them by making them famous. While I eat it up with a spoon, I'm the first to say I wish the tabloids would leave them alone. But I'm old enough to understand the hardships. It's 16-year-olds seeing Maci on the cover of Us who see nothing but dollar signs and fame that worry me.

Jetta83306 · June 2011

My DH and I watch Teen Mom and 16 & Pregnant. It's a guilty pleasure show for us.

melissa721 · June 2011

Even though they are on the covers of magazines, the stories those mags tell are oftentimes mostly sad ones of legal troubles, domestic problems and other issues. Very few of these girls are leading privileged lives and the ones that are had really strong support from their family to begin with.

The magazines will talk about them with or without their consent. I think the girls are smart by telling their side in their own words to at least make some profit off of the story the magazine will run regardless. KWIM?

And to say that the show glamorizes teen pregnancy is not true at all. The show doesn't portray that aspect of their lives where they are being photographed by the paparazzi or posing on the cover of magazines.

And even if young girls see them in magazines and on Perez Hilton, they still see the struggles they deal with on the show. For example, Maci was seen leaving a restaurant with some celebs a couple months ago and pics were all over the internet the next day.

But she's not some Hollywood starlet all of a sudden. At the end of the day she is just a young girl (even one of the more "well off" 16&P/teen mom girls you could say) who is still dealing with stressful baby daddy issues.

Mother Meghan · June 2011

I've watched it from the very beginning and I can see how people would think that it's just a dramatic reality tv show but I think they really capture the issues that come with having kids before you're ready, especially while trying to finish high school. I didn't have a baby in high school but it does look pretty realistic to me.

nicoleashlee27 · June 2011

I am a fan, I enjoy watching the show...first season was the best (the fact that there are seasons is sad) but when you watch the life after delivery shows in a young girls mind they see these girls all dolled up with fake nails, highlights, etc and although their stories are of them struggling and how hard they have to work and in the end some of them are doing well, but I mean it doesn't look like they are struggling. Yes the show is fun to watch because of the drama and it's addicting like the other crash and burn reality shows, but reality is, is that these are real teenage girls with real babies, and real drama and I don't feel bad for these teenage girls the babies are the ones suffering and that breaks my heart.

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Me: 30, DH: 33 Married 8/3/08
BFP 7/16/2012 (8th cycle), EDD 3/27/2012, Delivered 3/24/2013 - IT'S A BOY!