Every minute, of every hour, a baby is born. What they don’t mention is that you’ve got to take them home. Ten years ago, to watch a real life birth on TV would be like a really bad sex education lesson. However, it seems media today is trying to turn off those people that may one day want to bear a child.
With programmes on most channels warning you of the next 18 years plus, does it put people off reproducing or encourage people more to get in the sack? One born every minute, We’re having a baby, and The baby bomb to name a few, are those intimate programmes highlighting what goes down at the hospital, followed by those fun filled nights after the birth.
In recent years, teenage pregnancies have dropped dramatically, from 38,259 in 2009, to 34,633 in 2010. A decrease of 9.5% according to the BBC. It makes me wonder if today’s tv choices are the cause of this. This is definitely not a bad thing, and if showing real life on television is what it takes to make young people realise the enormity of having a baby, then it should be shown more.
These programmes are not tame; especially One Born, which has just finished its third series. To be quite frank, these programmes give me strange feelings below and have come to put me off ever having a child. If the birth looks bad enough, you don’t have to look much further than BBC3 to know how much worse it’s going to get. ‘The Baby Bomb’ and ‘Don’t just stand there, I’m having your baby’ emphasises the strain on young couples to bring up a new life with no money, no help and in reality, not the right mentality to be raising children. It looks horrific and has certainly stopped me from cooing over ever baby in the street.
Don’t get me wrong, babies are little miracles, and I plan to have my own someday but not at 22, or the next 10 years for that matter. I believe, and this is my own personal belief, that girls who become pregnant at young ages, do so because they want to be. They believe that a baby will strengthen a relationship, or somehow enhance their own lives and in reality, only makes things worse. To be making life changing decisions when actual life hasn’t even been touched on, must be harrowing. And once it’s done, it’s done; there’s no going back on that one.
Although One born shows off all the gory bits, the programme itself is a bit of a tear-jerker. My male friends can never weigh up why I watch it, but for me seeing a baby be born is magical, and also does prepare you mentally for what will happen one day. It’s a definite warning card, ‘Watch it, or this will be you’, but it’s also lovely to see couples so overjoyed with their precious bundles and does give your heart a slight tug.
Tv today mainly consists of documentaries of society watching Tv or crazed reality stars from Newcastle and Essex, but it doesn’t always show you real life. And with so many young mums in Britain, do these shows help and teach young girls and couples that happiness doesn’t come in the form of a baby? No. Programmes such as One Born and The Baby bomb raise awareness that life isn’t always greener on the other side, along with providing entertainment. And if statistics are dropping, then something positive is being done.