Posted on 06/27/2008 4:52:14 PM PDT by kathsua
NBC is abusing small children by using them for a "social experiment" and profit on a show airing on Wednesday's at 9 EDT/ 8 CDT beginning June 25 called "The Baby Borrowers" . On the program teenagers pretend to be the parents of babies by substituting for the babies' real parents.
Dr. Jan Hunt director of the Natural Child Project says: "As a parent, child psychologist and family counselor, I am deeply concerned about the premise of your new show "The Baby Borrowers," and for the present and future emotional health of the babies and young children whose lives will be so strongly affected."
Scientists have only limited knowledge of how the brain develops in young children. Babies cannot say how they feel. The information the baby receives and its feelings about the information influences how the neurons in the brain develop. Scientists know that events in a baby's life can positively or negatively affect brain development.
According to the news story about the show on the network's Wichita, Ks., affiliate KSNW, the people appearing on the show are volunteers who are not compensated. How does a baby volunteer to be on a television show? Using children as performers on a commercial television show without payment should be illegal if it isn't already. If adults are stupid enough to appear on a commercial television show without compensation they should be allowed to do so. But children should not be exploited for profit by heartless television networks. How can the network know the reasons why these parents allowed NBC to exploit their babies
Small children should not be used for experiments with the only possible exception being controlled experiments conducted by professional scientists that pose zero threat to the physical or mental health of the children.
The program claims to show teens how to be parents by taking care of the children for an extended period. Does that mean the babies are working longer than babies would be allowed to work if they were paid television actors? Hollywood typically has used twins for very small children on television shows to avoid overworking the children.
The program claims to be a "reality show", but the situation is not realistic. The teen guinea pig parents cannot relate to their pretend babies in the same way a real parent would. The babies will not relate to total strangers the way they would to their parents.
I have heard enough about the psychological problems many former child actors had to believe that children should only be used in television programs if absolutely necessary. This program is not necessary.
I’m sure the same people who are outraged over this will be outraged over teens doing babysitting across the country, if the illegals haven’t taken those jobs away too.
I saw the show. It was no more “child abuse” than leaving a child with a teenage babysitter. Kids’ parents monitor constantly.
This is a non-issue.
As for using children for profit ... child actors are routinely used for profit. There’s nothing inherently wrong with profiting from a child, so long as it is done in a way that doesn’t harm the child.
H
Perhaps the benifts will be that these teens will be better parents themselves.
i was worried till you said the parents monitor constantly.
Yeah. The parents aren’t in the room, but have video monitors. There are so many cameras around anyway that nothing is going to happen.
As reality shows go, it wasn’t terrible. I’ll take Heroes, The Unit or 24 over it any day, though.
H
I watched it last night, too.
Yes, the parents do check in frequently. And I really like how that one mom really laid into those kids concerning how they were handling her baby daughter. They had not a clue about typical bedtime routines for infants-she hadn’t had her bath, wasn’t in her ‘jammies and the 2 dopey kids were wondering why the baby just didn’t want to go to sleep!
It is an interesting concept for a show- I normally don’t watch “reality shows” , but I might start watching this one.
And maybe a few of them will hold off on becoming parents for awhile....
Lets hope so if they are Libs!
I haven’t watched the show.sounds very boring, maybe not.
It is pretend outrage. The teens and babies are watched carefully by a trained nanny who is there for the safety of the baby. The parents can watch the teens interact with the baby from across the street and step in any time they need to. This is no different, and probably less dangerous than leaving your baby unsupervised with a friend’s teenage daughter.
Besides, from the first show, several of the teems are already showing that they lack the maturity and patience to deal with children.
The girl who pouted up and refused to have anything to do with the baby REALLY showed her maturity, didn’t she.
Yeah, I'm having "HeySuess" from the Home Depot parking come in and look after my three tonight :)
I don’t get it. This sounds like kind of a stupid argument to me. I don’t know why anyone would want to watch a TV show of nothing but videos of teenagers babysitting children, but how is that possibly ‘psychologically abusive’ to the babies? Is this some kind of satire that I’m just too thick to get, or something?
I think the whole purpose of the show is to the prevent teenagers from wanting to have babies before they’re ready to become parents (like now, when they’re teenagers), so I can’t figure out why people are freaking out over the whole thing, either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.