http://www.mtv.com/videos/16-and-pregnant-season-2-ep-1-jenelle/1631955/playlist.jhtml
I'm not much of a TV person, but when I find a show I like, I try to follow it. One in particular has been 16 & Pregnant. I find some of the stories compelling and extremely interesting to watch. But why? I have no desire to be pregnant any time soon nor do I like watching people suffer through hard decisions and break ups. But I found myself recently being angry that I missed the premiere last night of the second season. So I decided to watch it online. Not only did this first episode make me feel embarrassed, but I couldnt help but wonder why these people put themselves out there to be seen by the whole world in these stressful situations. There may be people out there who have a situational interest; maybe themselves or a close friend got pregnant at a young age, or even just pregnant in general. For me, I had an individual interest to watch the second season because the first season had everything-- crazy moms, cute babies, boyfriend mishaps and love. I had seen all of these things and expected something great.
Her mothers actions made me uncomfortable just as I sat and watched by myself. I wanted to yell at both her mother and her for how they were handling this situation. I dont believe I would want my life videotaped through such a dramatic experience- I can only imagine how embarrassed I would be if it actually WERE me.
Janelle and her mother both had the same goals in mind throughout her pregnancy; they wanted the best for her baby... at least I think that's what they both were. Janelle's mother made it clear that the baby was most important, while Janelle made it clear she would not give up her social life. Janelle's mother even suggested if she couldn't take care of the baby maybe she should give the child up for adoption. Of course Janelle found this crazy and kept reassuring her mother that she could do it. There are many hidden costs to having this little boy (the reward) that Janelle hasn't come to see yet. Janelle is stuck in the world of a 16 year old, when in reality she has a child and needs to take on the role of a mother. Janelle's mother, on the other hand, babysat the child as Janelle went out.
IJanelle needs to realize what her life is now and see that she needs to take on these 'hidden costs' for having this child. While still in school (which is great), she continuallly went out on the evenings leaving her mother to care for her baby. Something needs to change in this mother-daughter relationship before "Grandma" becomes more of a mom than 'Mom' does.
I am with you. I also have absolutely NO desire to be pregnant, have a child, or have my life filmed constantly and shown to the world. However, I have become addicted to the show as well.
I found Janelle to be quite like Farrah from last season, which really upset me. Although I agree that Janelle's mom didn't handle the situation well, it upsets me when people do not take responsibility for their actions, especially when the one suffering will be a child (or animal... or any other living, feeling, dependent thing).
I think that one of the major reasons why reality TV shows are so addicting is because it makes others feel like we're "normal," and seeing others' problems and lives is somehow interesting to us.
We all know that having a baby before you're ready is difficult... it's just even more difficult for immature teens because they have other things that take priority in their lives at the time. The two people who stick out from the show are Farrah and Janelle, who leave their newborn at home with their parents constantly to go out with their friends and party almost every night (which makes me wonder... why do their parents even let them? My mom would've killed me if I was 16 wanting to party every night of the week!).
Both Janelle and Farrah display a high level of social needs. Not only do both girls have rocky relationships with their moms, but after having a child and the fathers not being present, probably also feel like they need intimacy. They fulfill their need by going out with their friends, whom they have warm and secure relationships with.
Reeve (2005) describes the social needs of affiliation and intimacy as the need to "establish, maintain, or restore a positive, affective relationship with another person" (p. 184). Because these girls carried a child for 9 months, which I'm sure a lot of their friends abandoned them during, their need to be accepted by their friends and build back relationships with them was increased. This motivated the two girls to go out more often to fulfill their need for acceptance, affiliation, and intimacy.
I was happy with how Farrah ended Season 1 - by giving up her social life more to be a mother. Although Janelle's actions so far have just upset me, I'm hoping that she, too, will end up like Farrah.
I agree! I love this show and don't know why either. Most of the time it just frustrates me, and like you said, I just want to yell at the people on the screen. It seems to be a common theme in both seasons of the show that the young moms do not want to lose the ties with their friends and youth, so they very highly value affiliation. For young moms such as Farrah and Janelle, going out and maintaining a teenager's life with friends seems to be more important or desirable than staying home with their new baby. Instead, they rely on their parent(s) to take their responsibility of caring for the baby. This creates more conflict when the teen moms want to be treated like they are adults. They seem to think because they are now a "mom" they should be free of restrictions and rules. Yet, they constantly have their parent(s) do their dirty work. The teen moms want but don't want autonomy all at the same time.