July 2008 Archives
Jul 25 2008
...and in today's sign of the apocalypse
Listen to this Youth Radio commentary that aired on NPR and weep. The commentary suggests that sex without condoms is the modern day equivelent of an engagement ring. What?
Jul 24 2008
Opposing Views
A new website---Opposing Views---launched today with some fanfare. The site bills itself as "real experts going head-to-head on issues you care about." Well, I'm not sure anyone is interested in the tired old debate about abstinence education... but, if you simply can't get enough on this topic see what the National Campaign had to say here.
Jul 23 2008
Teen Pregnancy, Hollywood, and Newsweek
In connection with an article on teen pregnancy, Newsweek.com has captured a powerful video testimonial from a teen mom. Watch it here:
Jul 22 2008
Gloucester...one more thing
In the immortal words of gumshoe, Lieutenant Columbo, there's just one more thing to note about the Gloucester High School pregnancy unpact. In the reams of words written about the 17 young women, in my view the very best comes from an editorial in the Norton Mirror in MA. An excerpt:
"While the armies of the Left and Right have spent 40 years fighting over sex---mostly through proxy battles on issues like sex education, parental notification and contraception---the culture forgot to teach children some fundamental things about parenthood...The real story at Gloucester High---and at high schools across the nation---isn't that kids have casual, uninformed attitudes toward sex. It's that they know and care too little about what it takes to raise healthy children."
Read the entire editorial.
Jul 09 2008
Toddler Time
The Baby Borrowers is back tonight - and this time the teen "parents" are caring for toddlers. Toddlers, as they soon find out, are a whole lot different than babies - they're mobile, they have tempers, and there are lots of potty-training mishaps. It may surprise you to see how the couples handle this new set of challenges. Just because things went smoothly for some with the babies doesn't mean toddlers will be easy too. Shows like this one provide a great opportunity to talk with the teens in your life about sex, love, relationships and pregnancy prevention. To get the conversation started, check out our Discussion Guides. And tell us what you think of the show, the lessons contained within, and your reaction to the experiment...take our short online survey or leave us your comments on the blog. Tune in to NBC tonight to find out who says "This is where they go running for the condom aisle!" and why.
Jul 03 2008
The "social experiment" contines...
Episode 2 of the Baby Borrowers premiered last night (July 2) on NBC and was full of many more real life situations for the "parents" to deal with.
After sleepless nights and busy days feeding, changing, and playing with their infants, two of the "moms" make unexpected requests to their boyfriends -- they want to go to work. And just as the pressure of maintaining a job, house, and family is really starting to build, the "parents" must say goodbye to their infants and get their first evaluation from the real moms and dads of their former babies.
What did you think of Episode 2? If you missed it, visit the Baby Borrowers official site to watch clips and see interviews with the teen parents. Then come back here and let us know what you think on our brief online survey.
Jul 01 2008
Reaction to Baby Borrowers
Thanks to all of you who have posted your thoughts about the NBC show, The Baby Borrowers. In addition to the blogging (verb) that has already been done here on the blog (noun), we have also gotten comments about the show on one of our websites---TheNationalCampaign.org.
By no means complete, here is a flavor of some of the comments we have gotten to date from our website. The Baby Borrowers runs for five more weeks. Please continue to let us know what you think.
