Virtual Birth Control

I have this new little guilty pleasure - TV shows that assures me that I have made the right decision to raise just one child. And grateful - totally grateful that I started parenthood at the age I did (oh, I wouldn't advise it to anyone else though!). Now that she is 23, in what seems to be selective amnesia, all I remember are the rosy wonderful memories of her childhood.  Watching TV these days therefore and being quite entertained by the day to day travails of a family with two sets of multiples (Jon and Kate Plus Eight) and the adventures of the British Super Nanny I guess the fun comes  from the realization I have survived the toughest (yet most rewarding) times of motherhood.

I would TiVo the episodes of Jon and Kate and when I can't sleep, would play one or two episodes until whatever was keeping me awake I would forget. The two year old sextuplets are just adorable - six little people already with their own personalities.  Sometimes the camera catches little moments that I, the attentive viewer would catch - any one of the siblings helping Aaden with his eyeglasses after a nap. Or her a how when a little squabble they would hug and tell each other "I love you".  It's how siblings are naturally, I guess. They'd kill each other but they cannot love anyone else in the world as much as they feel for each other.  Siblings, my mom would describe us, are "a piece of each other".



Supernanny and another show, however, The Baby Borrowers are what I call virtual birth control.  British Nanny Jo Frost is the child whisperer.  She comes to the rescue of family who are plagued by extremely difficult children.  Sometimes I find myself horrified that the children the show features are acting as themselves and I am relieved that I have the option never to go through that possible route in life again. Some kids would yell and be disrespectful, be suffering from computer or video addiction or are just not used to recognizing the authority of a parent.  In most cases you realize that problem children are the products of poor parenting more than anything else.  Inconsistency seems to be the most common culprit and so Super Nanny has to intervene and to stop the parents from rescuing their children when they are being accountable for their actions. 



Admittedly I have never seen an episode of The Baby Borrowers but the concept is to borrow small kids for teenaged couples who think they are "grown up enough" to start a family and to put them to the test.  It is a very interesting concept but I will have to put a report on it on another entry.  Otherwise I'd just be bluffling.



Jon and Kate Gosselin and their brood are on TLC, The Supernanny is on NBC and The Baby Borrowers is on NBC.  Watch one or all and I assure you that it'll make you reach for safety precautions next time you are romping between the sheets!  =)