Image Credit: MTVRaise your hand if an hour and a half of catching up with teen moms was a bit much for you. Yeah, me too. Or perhaps I’m just used to profanity-riddled “reunion” specials where castmates go at each other like lions fighting over a rotting carcass in the wildness. None of that happened on this 16 and Pregnant post-finale special. The closest we got was Dr. Drew Pinsky acting as though teen mom tears were the only source for his secret power of faux empathy. But that wasn’t nearly as entertaining to watch as profane belligerents; in fact, it was borderline awkward.
But to its credit, the special updated us on what the teen moms from season 2 have been up to besides crying, wearing lots eye makeup, and parenting. Specifically, we got relationship dish. Here’s what we learned:
++ Despite their tough time as teen parents, Lizzie and Nicole are currently sexually active, but are using birth control.
++ Jenelle is still bickering with her mom but is in counseling.
++ Nikkole is still trying to work it out with Josh. (No!!!)
++ Leah went running back to Robbie a few times, but wants to get back with Corey (who really seemed uninterested).
++ Chelsea is done with the emotionally abusive Adam for good.
++ Valerie is back with Matt, who has moved back to their hometown.
++ Kailyn from last night’s episode is engaged to her baby’s father.
++ Samantha is living with Eric, and their endlessly bickering moms haven’t talked since the baby’s birth.
++ Lori is happy her mom pressured her into adoption and loves Cory, who admitted she needs to ”get over” him.
Reads like a great teen novel, no?
Anyway, did you watch this 90-minute tear-fest, PopWatchers? What stood out to you? Did Dr. Drew make you squirm too? And are you hoping for a season 3?
Ok so who will be the 4 chosen for Teen Mom? I’m guessing Janelle, Leah, Kailyn and I don’t know who the 4th will be. Nikkole is an option but she’s not really communicative but for the love of God, do not get that couple that got engaged last night. The bf annoys me.
Chelsea maybe, since so many people felt for her when she received that text.
I doubt it b/c I looked her up after the episode and she’s kind of a drunk skank. There were all kinds of posted pics of her partying w/ the daddy AFTER the baby was born. There were beer cans and paraphernalia all around them. Besides, she doesn’t seem motivated to do things nor does she have drama. She’s a bore.
wait chelsea?? are you serious?
Once again we hear nothing of child support. I hope every one of these girls parents sue the boys parents for child support.
Nikkole and Josh. Wow. That boy is the most annoying person on earth. It was clear how Nikkole and Josh responded to Mom’s comments that they both are completely, completely immature and neither has grown up from this experience. Surely Nikkole’s Mom can get this boy locked away. Maybe when he turns 18, sue for child support, when he doesn’t pay, SEND HIS BUTT TO JAIL!!!!
season two of teen mom will be with the original teen moms, you guys!
it will just be there second year of parenthood.
Thank god! I don’t like the new girls!
I didn’t feel that emotional connection like I got with the first girls
thats great. i did not connect to season 2 girls either
The only one I’d really be interested in seeing more of is Kailyn. Jo (and his parents!) seem great, and I think they could be good parents.
agreed there amazing
so when is 17 and pregnant the REAL followup series coming – of course don’t forget these exciting series coming to a tv near you soon – 18 and on welfare – 19 and working as a stripper to pay for the three kids and the grand finale – 20 and doing life in prison for child neglect
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!
Wasn’t it Nicole that got engaged?
I find these girls and their relationships quite sad.
I’ve watched this show a lot as a parent and one overwhelming theme for me is the passivity of these young women.
Also,
Also, where does all the passion go for these couples? They seem to lose interest in the thing that made them parents in the first place.
passion and youth are what made the babies in the first place – where are the parents and why does this continue to happen – the sad thing – parents – with the everything is OK mentality – it’s not OK – you are 16 and you are knocking everyone and everything in site – for what – ever lasting love – more like everlasting welfare
In our sex drenched culture, it seems as if the teenagers are simply reacting to those messages.
That’s not passion, it’s a reflex.
I see the lack of affection and yes, passion, as indicative of kids who have no idea how to deal with their sexuality.
They show should do pop up bubbles tallying how much money it’s costing the parents and how much welfare costs as well. Teen parents generate tremendous poverty.
first off, Nikkole is really stupid! She will learn, but now she’s acting completely dumb and immature, oh wait, that’s because she’s only 16 or 17. The only reason she got preggers is because she thought it would make Josh love her more and stay with her…isn’t that twisted? but again, she’s young and will learn. I still can’t believe she wants to be with Josh. I laughed so hard when Josh said he wants to go to college to support only the baby, not Nikkole. AHAHA, HELLO Nikkole, isn’t that a DUH moment, yeah he doesn’t wanna be with you, EVER! So stop “trying” to make a work cuz it’s not going to. Another interesting part of the show was the end when Dr. Drew said girls whose fathers are not a part of their lives are more likely to be teen moms. Very interesting…
I find it maddening how nearly all the families have little insight into their own actions.
I also notice how none of these homes seems to have books in them.
Living life is important, but so is learning how to live life; reading, yes reading of all kinds is essential for a better life for both the mothers and their children.
I hear the parents say ‘finish school’ but not explain how education is its own reward.
Books saved me from doing a lot of acting out when I was a teenager, and education gave me insight; these teenagers truly lack these essentials.
The producers of the show emphasize the same things over and over, stuff like:
Pregnancy will ruin your HS senior year.
Labor and childbirth is physically painful.
Your boyfriend will abandon you.
Your dreams will be put on hold for a long time.
Every episode has the teen mother saying ‘I didn’t know it would be so hard to have a baby and be a mother’.
Does any of what is shown or said resonate with teenage girls, ever?
It’s not as if this message has changed in the last 30 years (since I was a teenager).
Who is listening? Anyone?
There seems to be a fantasy-prone mindset driving these teens to believe their life will be ponies and sparkles if they get pregnant. The boys in the series had no lives; they basically hang out like mangy dogs around high schools waiting to knock up girls with low self esteem. Then the girls acted dismayed when these idiot boys prove to be lousy fathers. The girl who tells her mom that “nothing else bad can happen” was especially sad; she’s quoting Juno, as if that’s going to be any comfort when she’s on welfare. The teen parents are totally unaware that their friends view them with a mixture of pity, fear and relief; they are cautionary tales and will be forgotten by graduation. These teens are unable to think ahead to the consequences of getting pregnant; being friendless, penniless, often homeless and having to raise a child on their own. There is no reason for any boy or girl to conceive a child when condoms and birth control are so prevalent. Just one Depo shot and these girls would be graduating with their friends, but that’s the kicker; the teens seem to be afraid of life after graduation, afraid of college, afraid of losing boyfriends, so they use the baby as an excuse of why they can’t finish college/get a job/leave home. The US has the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the Western world, ahead of Slovakia but the show doesn’t really provide answers on why that is.
You are totally correct. A voice of reason.
I agree, but damn. Not all teen mothers end up on welfare or with litters of kids. The rising rate of teen pregnancy is due to the abstinence only crap being pushed and parents seeming unwillingness to discuss any sex education at all. That’s what we all need to be focusing on more so these instances can be reduced.
True, but the vast majority of teen moms end up having their children taken away at come point by Child Welfare; because they leave the kids without a babysitter or because a newer boyfriend abuses their kids, for example. The older the child is when they go into foster care the more chance they’ll be stuck in the system and repeat the cycle of teen pregnancy. Some of these teen moms had wonderful parental support but the reality is most end up alone. Giving these teen parents their own reality show just plays into the fantasy these kids have in their heads.
“The vast majority of teen moms end up having their children taken away at come point by Child Welfare”? Do you have data to back that up?
@Shiny, you are making that up. There is no statistic that the vast majority of teen mothers have their children taken away by child welfare. Please do not go around saying things like that unless you have actually done research. This is like saying that most of the people on welfare are black (actually, only about 30 percent of the people on welfare are black)…it’s judgmental and promoting a stereotype at the same time.
I just simply cannot get over the lather-rinse-repeat situation teen girls keep putting themselves in. First off, the fact that these young girls think that having a baby with these immature morons will make them grow up is just mind boggling! Did they not watch the first season of this show? Secondly, the fact that they were all having sex without birth control. Honestly – I don’t care what your beliefs are, do you really think you’re invincible?? I’ve never understood that “It can’t happen to me” mentality. Unreal.
You are so right. Teens today have no problem getting oxy, meth, crack, pot, tequila, vicodin and rohipnol, but they can’t get the pill? These kids chose to get pregnant because of ongoing behavioral problems and other contributing addictions. Teen parents are potrayed as quirky, adorable, plucky waifs on TV and in movies but the reality is there was a lot wrong with these kids long before they got it into their heads to get pregnant.
Everybody knows that taking two birth control pills when a condom breaks will prevent pregnancy. These kids chose to get pregnant.
Does everyone honestly think that unplanned pregnancy only happens to women under the age of 18? The reality is that very few of the babies born worldwide are planned. The only difference between these girls and myself (who was surprised by my first child at 22, is there ability to buck up and deal with the changes a baby creates in one’s life. At 16 they aren’t prepared or able to make the changes that the rest of us find our selves scrambling to make when our test turns blue. Do all of you have children, and were you trying to conceive them when you did? If not you should cool down the rhetoric and recognize that the simplest things aren’t always simple to anyone.
yeah, actually taking two pills instead of one will not prevent pregnancy but thanks for demonstrating that your school’s sex education program is just as terrible as those girls’
OK, enough PC crap. Every one of these girls is immature, stupid or manipulative or all three. Let’s revisit these sad tales in 10 years and see what disasters they have foisted upon society. From what we see of the teenage impreganators (I refuse to call them fathers) we are not working with a very deep gene pool here, so I doubt if any of them are going to step up to the table and take financial or familial responsibility for their children. The girls moan and groan and whine how they have been cheated out of their “junior” or “senior” year activities, i.e. prom, and are shocked (schocked!)when the boyfriends are less than thrilled to be involved in the day to day grunt work of raising a baby. AND even more depressing than watching these girls insist on keeping their babies, is their almost universal response to condemn abortion or adoption as an alternative to poverty, child abuse and god knows what else.
I think the show is great in displaying the sad truths about what happens after the baby showers end and labor and the reality of having a crying, colicky, cranky baby attached to our hip 24/7. Let’s have a very honest segment at the end where birth control and statistics on poverty are discussed. If you think I am being too harsh here, I have over 20 years experience as a Social Worker. I have not even touched upon a worse fate these poor babies face: violent child abuse, abandonment, molestation at the hands of relatives they have been foisted upon and even death. That is reality.
Amen, sister. This isn’t just a 13 episode TV show, it’s a permanent entry into the worst kind of poverty for most of these kids. And by kids I mean the children these teen moms are having. The teen parents keep talking about ‘having babies’ when the reality it they are raising children with little training, skill and a clear lack of good judgement right from the get go.
I really liked Valerie. I think she is one of the only ones who will make it. And by make it, I mean not end up with another before 25 and may end up getting her degree and a trade (or college perhaps). She seems really motivated to do well for her daughter and be the best mother she can be. I’m sure that’s because she was adopted. Her adoptive family seems nice, but they aren’t too bright. I hope she continues to want more and do more.
I gotta disagree about Valerie; she seemed to use her pregancy as a way to keep Matt from leaving her, and the fact that she claimed to still love him after he cussed her, abandoned her, demanded a paternity test and got her pregnant at 15 (isn’t that statutory rape?) shows that she has no grasp on reality. Her parents seem to have no clue of how to set boundaries her. Valerie boasted about being “wild” even tho she got knocked up by a loser. Valerie seems to not care that she’s burdening her elderly adoptive parents and hogging the attention of her parents away from her siblings. I also feel for the children these teen parents are bringing into this world. Most parents work hard to buy a house, car and have income, working long hours to provide for their children. And in 20 years you can bet these girls will be blaming their dead end lives on their children; it’s at least a blessing that the kids will have video proof that these girls ruined their own lives and their kids are not to blame.
nikkole needs to quit being ignorant and clueless and realize what a moron her “boyfriend”, sorry sweetie thats not a “boyfriend” or a “father”. maybe to you in fantasyland…now she’s only asking for the pain she gets
I know I’m sticking my neck out there, but this show just proves to me why pregnancy termination – early, early, early – needs to be an option. None of these girls is prepared to be a mother. The boys are WORSE. Don’t give me any of your moral crapitude. Unless all these silly girls give their babies up for adoption or make it a law that they give their babies to a needy loving family, it is better not to bring these babies into the world. The babies don’t have much of a “present” and I see their futures as playing out even bleaker.