Babies and judgment

I must say I'm not a huge reality TV show watcher. When I was younger I was a Real World junkie at an age when I shouldn't have been watching it and I would not miss Survivor for anything. I only watch Jersey Shore every so often, but the reality TV shows that I do watch are Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant.

I love these shows, and when it comes to the reason why I watch it, Franklin nails it on the head. I definitely judge these girls for the decisions they made that led to them becoming pregnant, and then I judge decisions they make when it comes to relationships, parenting, school and any other thing that is shown. When they show these 16 year olds fighting over petty things, all I do is scoff at them and say things in my head like, "how do you think its going to work between the two of you when you are 16 and have a child." I compare their relationships to my relationship. I always think how my boyfriend and I never fight, and how whenever we're upset we talk about it calmly. I judge the heck out of their knock-down drag-out pettiness with the baby crying in the background.

But the thing that I forget is the fact when I was 16, I had those petty arguments with my friends or my boyfriend. You're 16, of course you fight over petty things, you're still a kid! Every once in a while I remember this, and yet it still does not end my feeling of superiority. It sounds really mean because these girls are faced with way harder decisions than I've ever been faced with and they are responsible for another human being, while sometimes I think its a miracle I can get myself through the day. Heck, I killed a fish after having it for 2 months when I was 18, two years older than most of these girls when they give birth.

So when it comes to watching these shows, and any reality show, I have to remember: I am not this person. I don't know why they made the decisions they have made, but they made them and I can't fault them for making a mistake, whether the mistake was having a baby or just being on a TV show about having a baby. Why can't I fault them? Well, because I know I have made so many. If my life were a TV show, I'm sure that I could easily be type-casted as the bitch, the one who starts all the drama, the cry baby, the sloppy drunk or any other stereotype because God knows at different points in time, one could easily put together a video montage of me being any of these. Sometimes when I watch Teen Mom, I need to stop thinking about how great of decisions I have made to get where I have gotten and have just a little bit of empathy for a girl that's 20, stuck in an unhealthy relationship and happens to be a mom as well.