"THE BABY BORROWERS TOWN MEETING"

08/06/2008 (09:00PM - 10:00PM) (Wednesday) : "Baby Borrowers: Lessons Learned" -- An exciting one-hour interactive town hall special, hosted by "Today" Co-Host Hoda Kotb, that will for the first time bring together all of the teen participants, the borrowed infant's parents and producers of NBC's popular social experiment "The Baby Borrowers." Joining the debate will be other topical, newsworthy guests (to be announced) -- to discuss NBC's controversial summer series with America, and further explore the important, challenging social issue of teen pregnancy, from recent, shocking news stories about "pacts" in a Gloucester, MA high school and rising rates of teen pregnancy in the U.S. to increasing, seemingly positive images of pregnant teens splashed across movies, television and the tabloids.



Teen Couples and Parents of the "Borrowed" Babies from NBC's Controversial Series "The Baby Borrowers" Reunite For the First Time Since Filming Wrapped Last Summer

Town Hall to Feature Spirited Debate of Highly Publicized Teen Pregnancy Issue; Special Guests Include Gloucester, Mass. Teens Who Will Discuss Alleged "Pregnancy Pact"

BURBANK, Calif. - July 29, 2008 – NBC's Hoda Kotb ("Today") will host "The Baby Borrowers: Lessons Learned" an interactive town hall special on Wednesday, August 6 (9-10 p.m. ET) that will bring together the teen couples as well as the parents of the "borrowed" babies of NBC's controversial reality series "The Baby Borrowers" for the first time since filming wrapped last summer. Joining Kotb will be physician and relationship expert Dr. Drew Pinsky ("Loveline") who will engage special guests in a spirited debate on the much-publicized issue of teen pregnancy.

Viewers will get a chance to find out what lessons "The Baby Borrowers" teens learned after they went home to their "real" lives, which teen couples are still together and what they are up to now. The parents who lent their babies to this social experiment will also be on-hand to talk about their reasons for participating in the show, as well as how their child is doing today.

Special guests will include The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy CEO Sarah Brown, "The Baby Borrowers" executive producer and creator Richard McKerrow, as well as three Gloucester, Massachusetts teens who will discuss the alleged "pregnancy pact," which made national headlines. The special will also feature critics of the program, plus experts in adolescent psychology and teen pregnancy.

"The Baby Borrowers: Lessons Learned" will be an interactive event where some viewers will be invited to text in their own opinions and comments about the show and the issue surrounding teen pregnancy. The special will also answer questions submitted by viewers on NBC.com.

Just watched the NBC special "lessons learned", What have we learned, really?

Somehow I must have missed this show on NBC, but I caught the special and some clips this evening while channel-flipping.

First of all, I think it's questionable that parents would subject their children to a show that seems more like an experiment. Sure, maybe the care they're receiving is not so different from daycare (except that these kids are untrained in child care and, of course, that it's broadcast on national television).

As per the educational value, I could almost understand it if the show was in the form of say, a documentary about teens who thought they might want to become parents and decided to start babysitting to learn what it's like. But on such a grand scale it really does seem more like an experiment.

About the growing numbers of kids having kids in America, I have a few points of personal experience I'd like to share.

1) Kids need to feel like they can seek contraception to prevent pregnancy. Weirdos picketing Planned Parenthood may make scared teenagers turn away from a valuable resource.

2) A sex ed teacher of mine once said, "Don't have sex with a man that you wouldn't want to be the father of your child." In other words, choose your partners carefully - they might be a part of your life for longer than you think.

3) Having kids is all well and good. Celebrities are raising whole clans, but they have at least the financial resources, if not the time, to care for their broods. I know a young married couple that was so anxious to have kids (2 now with another on the way) that they didn't bother finishing school, creating a budget, or saving up first. Now they are swimming in debt that will plague them for life. It's going to have a serious affect on them and their kids. If they had just waited a few more years, they could have been financially secure first.

So what's the solution? Be smart about your choices, and teach your children the same.

I agree with most of what you say.
I do think, however, it was educational. Sure, for the teens on the show it may have been more of an experiment than anything, but it certainly taught me and millions of other teens the trials of parenthood, and in that aspect, it was educational.
But all in all, great post and I agree with everything else.

Reaction to Townhall Special

OK...at first, I must say, I found the hosts to be quite annoying. While I thought they got better as the show went on, I think NBC could have done a better job with hosts. I think the executive producer should have actually been a host. Perhaps having a teen as a host would have been beneficial. I understand the idea of having a doctor as well. Perhaps there should have been different hosts for different segments of questioning. A teen or young host to ask questions from the fans and bloggers. A doctor to ask questions regarding the babies used...etc.

I also was wondering why the seating was so stiff? I mean we saw these teens in a house together...maybe the stage should have been set up to be more roomy with sofas. The teens were not even able to face the host without turning around. It seemed so stuffy and formal.

Why did we barely get to hear from the couples? They were on the screen for a matter of one segment...this is ridiculous. Perhaps the show should have been longer so that the parents (what happened to the parents of toddlers, teens, etc.) and the teens would have had more time to talk. Also, why wasn't the executive producer interviewed separately?

Perhaps I am liberal but I cannot see how anyone can criticize the parents that participated in this show. Especially about this separation anxiety. In today's world, children spend time separated from their parents whether it is daycare, visiting family, etc. And the show made sure that there were plenty of precautions. These children were not taken away from their parents for months...not even a week.

And what is with all of the criticism of sleeping together? Are the children we are raising so dependent that if they see two people sleeping together on TV they will automatically do it? What kind of children are we raising if this is true? Secondly, it was stated that Jordan and Sasha practice abstinence and slept separately. Many teens practice abstinence and still sleep in the same bed. And if they are over 18 years of age, who are we to dictate where they sleep if we are not their parents? If you believe and practice abstinence, seeing two people sleep together on television should not be enough to change your mind. And while abstinence is a great thing to preach, it is never going to be practiced by everyone. I for one do not believe in waiting until marriage. However, I will not ridicule or create a huge controversy with those who do want to wait. It is a choice.

In the same sense, why are we blaming Hollywood for all of our problems. I believe that the announcer was correct, it is easier to blame the media than to blame ourselves. If, as parents, we allow the media to be the teacher, what kind of parents are we. We have to talk to our children. We cannot rely on the media or peers to talk to our children about sex. Besides, most of the mom's displayed in those magazines are adults who are wealthy. These parents have nannies, house keepers, the very best doctors a parent can buy. Can any teen realistically compare themselves with Angelina Jolie? As for Jamie Lynn Spears, I felt that the media did portray how stupid it is to have children at a young age. Look at her sister Britney and the way she fell apart because she wasn't ready for that kind of responsibility. Violence, eating disorders, now pregnancy, at what point do we draw the line and stop blaming the media? I did not watch Juno and think...wow what a glamorous life she has because she is pregnant. Again, what kind of children are we raising if one image can make them decide to have a child?

All in all, I was very disappointed with this episode. I felt like the teens were barely able to talk, hardly any of the questions asked on here were answered. The producer never discussed changes they would make or if there would be another season, in fact, he was barely able to talk. We only saw about 6 of the parents that were on the show. The whole thing felt rushed and no one really asked the tough questions or they were interrupted or stopped when they were. I was so excited to see the answers to many of the questions asked on here and to get the scoop from the teens, parents, and director...however it was a major let down.

Agreed in full.

As for the media part, the reason why the media is blamed is because a lot of parents fail to do just that, parent! Instead, they allow the television, movies, computer, and video games to raise their children. When the children need to do something, its always, "Go watch tv. Go watch this movie" or something of the like, so when they act bad, the media is blamed.
But as you said, the root of the problem lies with parents and our society as a whole.

I have to say, I was quite disappointed we only got to see one 10 minute segment with the teen parents. After watching them go through all these experiences throughout the season, I would have like to have heard a little more from them than just a few short answers. I mean I thought the whole basis was to see how the show affected them and what the are up to now. I don't feel like I learned anything more than what I alread knew before the reunion aired.

Just watched tonights show, Hollywood?

Every adult trys to blame hollywood for everything wrong with their kids. i strongly believe thats not true. Kids dont want to have kids because of a pregnant celebirty, they just want to be grown up. I know, I am 25 and started having sex at 16.....had some pregnancy scares since and most kids just need the parents to have the guts to take them to get birth control. Instead of telling your kids no, protect them. I didnt listen to my parents when they said dont do it. My boyfriends mother told me to get protected. thats sad that the guys mom had the guts to say something. I had rules, when my boyfriend was over the door was open, never on the bed, etc. How are these girls getting pregnant....the parents stopped caring. And if you went to a school like mine, i didnt get the education i needed about sex. they just said dont do it too. Nothing on protection or anything. Just shoulded use pictures to scare us out of having sex. I believe that the baby borrowers is a great show. it SHOWS teens that it might not be fun to be an adult. So we are the ones that are turning entertainment into education. I think the show probably has helped some teens understand. One last thing, the kids sleeping together...big deal! They are all of age and the show was showing how it really would have been. Do you think the show would have that kind of impact if they slept in different rooms? The adults are harping too much about things that dont matter......not things that should matter!

Kinda disapointed. I think the 'lessons learned' episode should have been longer, say 2hrs instead of just one hour. I also would have liked to see some of the questions asked on this forum answered. Although, some questions were answered by a few of the audience guests. I am sure they did go through and answered similar questions to those that were asked on here.

I was also hoping that at the end of the show that they would have announced a new season. Since they did not announce a new season then I am taking it as there won't be a new season after this. I was really hoping that there would have been.

Me too, but you never know. It's a summer show, and these things are generally just time fillers until the fall, unless they catch on. They may wait until they see the official final ratings for the show, and then decide if they should air another season next summer or not from there. By the time the official ratings come out, they'd have plenty of time to shoot a season, edit it, and have it out to production in time.

I sure hope so because I would really enjoy seeing another season of this show.

I'm disappointed too. So I'm writing about it on my blog (where I've mentioned brief personal thoughts of the show before). LOL.

But to be honest, I feel sad that there wasn't really a point in the show where questions were answered that we all submitted. I understand maybe they couldn't have done ?s all thru out the show cuz it may be boring but I was really looking forward to hearing from the teens. And what about the parents? It would have been great to see the parents talk more, some didn't get to finished their sentences and some didn't get a chance to speak at all! The parents spent more time defending their reason for participating rather than being given a chance to really talk and tell us all at home about why they participated and whatever else they wanted to let everyone know about. 'Least thats what I think.

I understand bringing Hollywood and the girls from Massachusets (right?) who got pregnant sorta related to Baby Borrowers...but I think it would have been better (in my opinion) if they could have had more teens and parents speak first and then maybe bring up other issues that branch off from the show. I don't know...I feel sad and disappointed right now. As a 15 year old, I really looked up to the couples who took up this challenge and followed through. I have no intentions of any kind of having a child now (obviously I'm still @ home and can't support myself...which means fully taking care of myself, therefore I don't believe I could do it for a child and raise one when I'm still growing and learning myself) but how the teens took on the challenge and gave everyone a glimpse of reality...wow. Thats all I can say. I've never been hooked on a reality TV show, till I saw Baby Borrowers. And I also was interested in the parents of the kids who volunteered their kids for this. As I said before, hearing from all of them more would have been cool.

*sigh* So these are my thoughts on the show. I'm so happy I was able to see a cool show like this this summer...a show that had a lesson to it and wasn't just to entertain, but I feel sad that the last episode turned out so...short and lacked a lot of what I thought I would see.

Great job to the parents and teen couples who participated in the show!

Yea I have a brother-in-law who is always say the reason kids are so bad now and getting pregnant and stuff is because of what is on TV. Well sure that can play a part but you can't blame it all on TV. Where are the parents? Are they leading by example? Are they teaching their children right from wrong? How a child is raised has a great deal to do with how they turn out.

That being said I was disappointed in tonights show. We didn't get to hear from the teens enough or the parents of the borrowed baby's. Plus we didn't really get to see them long enouhg when they were reunited with their "baby's".

I expected SO MUCH MORE from this "Town Meeting" The focuse was more on the infants and current issues surrounding teenage pregnancy. And what made me cringe was the thing about the media having this horrible affect on todays youth, I really hate that excuse! Funny how they spoke about Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie and Nicole Richie when these women were ADULTs when they began to have kids the only example that was revelant was Jamie Lynn Spears and the movie JUNO!

While this is my own opinion I'm sorry if I anger anyone. . . . . .
I believe people use the excuse about the media negatively affecting their kids to cover up some lack of parenting. Now a days parents NEED to work to support and maintain their families, not always giving them the opportunity to guide and supervise their own children or giving them the ability to really examine their children to see if its time to intervine. In my own experience parents will domwtimes forget that they have children and begin to treat them like adults leading them to trouble, the when they notice its to late. Then there are parents that avoid the issue completely. While they're great caretakers they don't communicate with their kids thinking they'll know what to do when a sexual incounter arises out of their sight. In my opinion both situations push the kids to look for someone thats going to guide them and give them attention possibly falling for someone that has only one thing on their mind and see how voluneerable they are and use them. While in both cases the teens a probably intelligent they're confused n get into troublinh situation. And in other cases some teens will just happen to get pregnant even thought their parents did everything they could, but i really think we could cut down and stop blaming the media if parents had open communication and instilled strong values and morals in their child. Helping to guide them to help make the right decision when life altering situation present themselves.

To some it all up I think parents should do more parenting instead of letting the flat plasma screen and their laptop do the babysitting. Families need to me interactive and open. Me and my mom were always open. Even thought she works like a dog she always made sure I was surrounded by family that had similar morals and values to supervise me n guide me the times she wasn't around. I really can't imagine how a 13yr old gets pregnant bc when i was 13 (just a few yrs ago) i was always supervised.

umm just airing out my thoughts.

I just finished watching the reuniting of the couples and I have a few things to say about some of the topics brought up...

1.How did them sleeping in the same bed promote having sex.
A.They were sleeping
B. It did not show them having sex therefor did not promote it...Unless you think sleeping=sex. Which it doesn't. I don't get it...

2.That doctor in the audience did not know a thing. I really do not like shrinks and therapists and people like him that think that because they have a slip of paper that says they are certified that they know what they are talking about. Because 9/10 times in my life no doctor in that kind of field has helped any of my family or friends...They made them worse. They are just in it for the money and the world needs to stop being so greedy all the time. People should not be making a profit by helping people it is wrong.

3.Hollywood does not effect the youthful minds of the world unless those minds are idiots. If you are not an individual and do what everyone around you is doing go ahead blame it on Hollywood. But again it makes no sense. If parents would raise children right and the children would actually listen to the parents there would not be a extremely high teen pregnancy percentage. If teenagers would stop acting ****** and giving everything they have to every thing that breathes we would not have this issue.

I am turning 18 in a week and I am very proud to say I am still a Virgin. I can also say that I have seen a lot of sexual things in movies magazines and in life that did not lead me to having sex. Just because you see someone do something does not mean you are going to do it. If you do not have your own mind and can not make decisions for yourself and have to do everything everyone else is doing than that is your own down fall and I have no pity for you. This is the only advice that is seriously needed for all the teens in the world. Grow up! Stop acting so immature. Because that is what it all comes down to. Being a teenager does not mean having sex and going to parties and being a loser. It is just another step in your life. Why waste it on useless things?

It was very disappointing. I wanted to hear more from the teens. It could have easily been 2 hours. There has been a lot of discussion on this board and it seemed that a lot of the issues weren't addressed. It was afterall, a look at teen pregnancy/parenthood.

That bogus pyschologist should not have had any airtime. He was ridiculous. All the other points were valid - parents DO have to leave their children from time to time. It is a fact. To take a cheap shot at the producer saying it was entertainment was very ineffective I think. He just did not have a valid point.

The worse thing was finding out that there was a FIVE YEAR federally funded study on the origin of influence on teen pregnancy. Give me a break!!

Do-over! I wanted to hear more from the teens and parents as well. This should have been 2 hours.

I understand why they had all of these 'experts' on, though. There has certainly been a lot of criticism and since there are teens and babies involved they have to address it.

I think Hollywood and the media definitely contribute to teens and younger children wanting to be sexy, but I don't believe that's the reason for pregnancy. Contraception really isn't talked about nearly enough.

I was hoping for a mention of another series too. This was great. Should be required viewing for high school.

Can we give kids a little more credit here? I mean, I'm only 26, it wasn't that long ago that I was a teenager. I was able to be exposed to media and pop culture and not get sucked in, and most kids don't. Hollywood, at best, can be a trigger for girls that have the idea anyway. A normal girl doesn't see an 85 pound Nicole Richie and say, "Oh, only bony girls are famous, I'm gonna starve myself!" Only girls that HAVE those issues do that, because they only see what they want to see, and for every Nicole Richie is an America Ferrera. Just as, no Jamie-Lynn, or even an ANgelina, will make a normal girl decide she wants to get knocked up. For every pregnant celebrity, there is a childless one, like Paris Hilton, jet-setting and partying. I mean, think of one young parent--Britney Spears. A sexy, pretty, talented, admired girl turns into a chunky, bald, bi-polar, car-crashing drunk after having her babies. No one's saying, "Oh, Britney's breakdown is scaring people off from having babies."
EVery conceivable lifestyle choice, with EVERY conceivable outcome, is played out in the media. We're subject to all of it. Marrying young going well, marrying young being a disaster. Motherhood turning out well, motherhood turning into a nightmare. Single life being lonely, single life being fabulous. Drug addiction ending up in redemption, drug addiction ending up in death. No one thing is being played out in one way--the media is far too complex for that. If a kid has something in her head, that's what she'll seek out, that's what she'll use to justify her actions. Without the media attention, she will do it anyway.

That's right. The family unit is stronger than any media influence, normally. If it isn't it should be. That is the point. It is the parents' job to enlighten their kids on the consequences of any behavior. No parent has complete control over their kid but if there is respect they may just respect them enough to listen to them most of the time. Getting pregnant is a huge life-changing event at any age.

This reunion special was, by far, the worst I have ever seen. In now way is it acceptable to turn a recap of a show where questions are supposed to be asked toward the participants and to check-up on where they are now into a 'special edition news story.'

I do realize that the point was to bring awareness towards teen pregnancy, which is why they Incorporated how the media facilitates teen pregnancy and the teenagers that were/have been pregnant, but that does not mean that, that had to be the focus of the entire hour length episode.

i was kinda disappointed in the show as well. i wish there would have been more with the teens and maybe even a little more on how they broke up or how the show hurt or helped them as a couple. i agree that it could have probably been about two hours.

-first off, the teen conversations were very staged and i felt like the teens hardly got to say anything at all. and when the host asked corey and alicia how they felt about having sex and stuff, i thought that was a little bit.. not really "personal" but i felt like it could have been really off guard. if i was asked that on tv, i would have to think a minute, you know?

-second off, they showed the parents which i thought was really cool. however the psychologist that said it was really bad for the children, i think that's wrong. i mean, it was only a few days and how many kids are put in day care from 7-5 every day? and they are fine it's just what you have to do. ideally, everyone should stay home with their kids but that's not realistic.

-talking to the high schoolers was kinda neat, but i felt like they didn't really say enough about their life as parents, they shoud have been asked "was this show realistic to how it really is?" or something

but i did love The Baby Borrowers. i really hope there is a second season. i really think all the teens did an incredible job. and i'd like to give kudos to kelly for everything she's been through. it's really hard to go through something like that. congrats on being a strong indivudal. and as i think we all can see from the show, there are tons of people who love you and are there for you!!

I watched Baby Borrowers with a different perspective. It's been 20 years since I was in high school. Sure we had our teen pregnancies - two that I remember or knew about anyway. One girl had been date raped and opted to keep her baby, while the other was "in love" with her boyfriend. As soon as the baby was born, he decided being a dad wasn't for him and split. She was 15 and a single mom trying to get her high school degree.

I'd never given anymore thought to teen pregnancies until last year. There seemed to be an epidemic around us of teens having babies. I live 20 minutes from Burlington and can now name 5 teenagers within six houses away who have had babies. It's insane.

The kicker for me is when my next-door neighbor's son announced his 15 year old girlfriend was pregnant. This is a kid whose mother felt it was up to the school to teach sex ed. He came to me at the age of 16 and told me that you can't get a girl pregnant the first time. At this point, I stepped in and taught him about sex, but by that point it was too late. He and his girlfriend were already sexually active and she was pregnant. He's 17 now and with a 6 month old son. Their parents kicked them out, the state said they work too many hours to qualify for any assistance from the state programs, so they found an apartment and both work 40 hour weeks to pay for the apt. They can't afford phone service, internet or cable ( a good thing I think) and thankfully their landlord is paying for heat. So their bills are for the baby, the apt. and electricity. I end up with the baby quite frequently because they can't afford daycare and try to do the best they can with finding friends or family willing to watch the baby for a day. The rest of the time, their boss has been good about letting them bring the baby to work with them.

Meanwhile, that same neighbor's 18 year old daughter became pregnant and now has a 7 month old. She was on state aid, but failed to pay rent for three months and was booted from the program. She's home with mom now, five people living in a 2 bedroom home. All I ever hear is her yelling at her son to shut up. I also hear that once he started crawling, she decided that babies are too much work and she leaves him with his father more than he's with her.

If even ONE person was helped by Baby Borrowers, it's a good thing. I don't feel those babies were impacted by a short separation from their parents. The toddler age group to me would be the ones most affected, and they seemed fine.

I also disagreed that the teens sleeping in the same bed was a bad thing. Whether we like it or not, teens will find a way to sleep together. And with cameras around, they weren't likely to do much anyway. It's far better for parents to be proactive and make sure their children understand the realities of having sex. Something I hear doesn't happen anywhere near what it should.

I agree with you 100% especially about the hosts! That lady drove me crazy. I was mad that I wasted an hour of my time to basically hear nothing from the teens. And that doctor in the audience? What a crazy man. You really would think that you locked the kids in a cage for a week or something the way he was talking.

[color="#FF0000"][/color] So, I completely didn't pay attention to the name of the psychologist or whatever he was but a man in the audience who was a Dr. said that the parents are basically damaging their children by leaving their babies with the teenage borrowers for 3 days. He went on to say even very short periods of time can damage the child.

He really struck a nerve with me and I really need to vent!! How is placing a baby in the care of older teenagers who are under the surveillance of nannies and their parents harming them? Babies are left overnight at sitters, during the day with day care workers all the time. Many MANY babies go through so much worse. Think sick babies. Babies who are born sick!

Did he ever consider the babies who spend their first year in NICU? What about the babies who spend the first year in and out of the hospital? What about painful procedures the babies go through and the stress the parents go through? What about those babies? From the way he put it, I would think that my son will grow up to be completely messed up and damaged. My son has had 7 operations and was in so much pain he was basically given an epidural before he woke up from one of his operations. He has been on morphine and vicodin. It seems that every time a doctor or nurse touched him, they did something that would cause pain. Nurses in hospitals will wake a baby every 2 - 4 hours and sometimes those midnight wakening is something that will cause pain.

He's a good boy. When we are at the hospital, he will look up at nurses and smile. He smiles at the doctors and everyone who crosses his path. He's only 15 months old, so only time will tell but my heart says he'll be just fine.

I just can't stand that Doctor!!!!

We appreciate the support from everyone on the message boards.

As one of the parents, I want to say a few things.

Rachel's statement is correct: we did not get to finish our sentences or finish our points. In my case, the answer to my one insignificant question was edited to make me look like I participated only because I was only seeking fame for my son, which is not true. As I've stated many times on these boards, we were committed to the postive message of the show because we have raised many teenagers. This topic was very relevant to our personal daily lives.

There was MUCH more of the discussion with the critic, Dr. Pruitt, and Richard McKerrow the producer, Natalie, and Kristy that was very relevant to the "parent" segment that were edited out.

Rachel is very correct: it was very unfortunate that many of the parents, including Leslie who was also a teen mom, did not get to speak, and there was no question prepared for them. Tara did get one question that was completely edited out.

Bill and I participated in the reunion show for several reasons. We wanted to reunite with the other parents, with whom we have a very strong bond and friendship. We were also so excited to see Sasha and Jordan and the other teens who we are so proud of. We wanted to show Sasha and Jordan how big Shay has gotten! We did accomplish all of those goals. We had a FABULOUS time hanging out in New York with everyone. We all took some great photos of our babies with their "teen parents."

But we (Bill and I) also wanted to have the discussion of why we all participated, how safe it was, how there was no risk to the babies' emotional health, and let the viewers see how great our kids are doing. We are very disappointed we were not able to accomplish that goal.

One last response to other comments I've read here: we thought the hosts Hoda Ktbe and Dr. Drew were awesome! If someone could bottle Hoda's "niceness" and real sincerity, the world would be a better place.

Again, thanks for the support.
Respectfully,
Julie

Well, let's not negate everything the Dr. said, obviously he must know what research has said about such situations.... and his point is probably valid..... But as Dr. Drew pointed out, kids have a high level of resiliency.....kids, espeically at a certain age, can bounce back from things.... and many of the toddlers will never know that they were ever part of an "experiment" as the Dr said.

Heck, many kids are left in day care for long periods of time, sometimes so much that they begin to call their day care provider mommie.... I have seen parents drop their toddlers off at daycare at 630am will pick them up, as late as 730-800pm..... that's a long time to be away from your child....

Now about babies in the hospital, I have worked in NICU, although I do NOT like working with babies, I had rather work with adults (MICU/ICU/CCU/Burn Unit, etc...) doctors and nurses stress the fact that the parents, especially the mother, should talk to and hold their baby, if at all possibile in order to create that bond.

Sounds as though your little boy has displayed strong resiliency, which is good, and is exactly what Dr. Drew mentioned... it's amazing how kids are.... they are very strong.......

I did not like the Lessons Learned episode at all. It was suppose to be a reunion of the teens and how they felt about the show. NBC asked us for questions so they could answer them on the show, but the teens only had 10 minutes and barely answered any questions. The parents barely got any time also about why they did the school. If I remember correctly, one of the mothers didn't even talk (I think Zachary's mother). They spent a lot more time on the Hollywood portion and about the teens from Glouchester (sorry if I misspelled it). I personally feel they should redo this and ask the questions that many of us wanted answered.

Same here. Everybody had so many questions to ask and very few addressed (it was like a bunch of them jumbled into one question). I wanted to hear about the couples, together or not, what caused them to break up or stay together...what did the 'baby lenders' learn from this experiment...the 'baby borrowers', did they learn any lessons, any questions, any doubts, etc. Somehow I didn't see that...

Exactly, that's what I wanted. And after hearing from Mrs. Pew about the whole "confrontation" between the psychologist and the parents of the babies, I wish they had shown that whole thing, too.
Take the segment about the Mass. girls and the media out, you can do a separate hourlong "Dateline NBC" episode on those, and advertise it at the end of the Reunion show, and replace that on the reunion with all the things 911 said.

They should have had gaitorbait in the audience asking a question...oh yeah that's right...dateline controlled all the questions.

Julie... all I have to say to that is--

"God, you're such a BABY!"

HA! We miss you guys

i know i dident like the reun show i was like this is well i am gonig to say it crap i dident like it and to that nbc 5 thums down for ep 7 i call it and ep 1 2 3 4 thums up 5 6 2 thums




lol

nor did i i taught that it was made crapys 100 thums down