In Defense of Teen Mom

Since I don't own a television, I may not seem a likely fan for MTV reality shows. Strangely enough, there's one I seek out and even discuss with my best friend: Teen Mom. To be fair, I started watching 16 and Pregnant and its spin-off Teen Mom because one of the couples is from my hometown. But pretty soon, I was hooked.

Between high-minded geeking out over discourse analysis ("how can they possibly think that argument is resolved??") and the satisfaction of a glimpse of home, no travel required, I became genuinely invested in the lives of Maci and baby Bentley; Amber, Gary and their daughter Leah; and Tyler and Catelynn, sans their daughter Carly, who had been adopted by another family. By season two, even single mom Farrah had grown on me after she forged out on her own, leaving her abusive mother behind and confronting her grief over losing her baby's father in a car accident.

As much as these shows play up the dramatic angle of young, unexpected parenthood, I like to think there's some useful truth in what is depicted. With 16 and Pregnant being used in high school sex-ed classes, I'm clearly not alone. Being a parent is grueling work, and being on your own with so much responsibility — even if you have a supportive family or partner — is incredibly difficult. What I often find particularly striking are the economics: how Maci took Ryan to court for child support to help care for Bentley, or later moved cities to spend less time and money commuting to see her boyfriend. Gary may not have a job, but to avoid the high cost of daycare, he takes care of Leah while Amber works to pay their bills. Farrah relies on her family until she realizes she can no longer trust them; after that, state-funded daycare and a few supportive friends are her best bet for keeping baby Sophia safe and entertained while she works long hours to pay all of their bills. The decisions these young parents make are (often) in their children's best interest but are also based on their financial reality of living paycheck to paycheck and/or depending on government assistance.

The show also explores the ways young people often learn about managing money the hard way. Without being taught the basics in school, something as simple as properly writing a check becomes an obstacle. Even more extreme, young parents are at high risk for fraud victimization. Take Farrah's check scam incident. In trying to make an adult decision by selling her car to buy a better one, she inadvertently fell into one of the most common scams on sites like Craigslist right now: cashing a bad check and then wiring half of the money back to the "buyer" before the check bounced. Call her naive, but how many young people fall for this trick without someone — namely, a trusted adult — with whom they can kick around ideas?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I also believe Teen Mom is one of the only shows on television that depicts working class and poor families doing actual working class family activities. A scene at the roller skating rink, a vacation to Florida in which you both drive and stay with relatives, and innumerable trips to Walmart are all part of the lives of millions of Americans, yet never actually shown as normative by non-celebrities and non-actors. The irony, of course, is that you've got to have cable television or a reliable internet connection to actually watch a show on the network.

The stars of MTV reality shows certainly parade a variety of choices in front of us each week. From hooking up a la Jersey Shore to the exhausting experience of teen parenting, we're all shown a weird mix of values, lives and adventures. When it comes down to it, there's very little to celebrate about any of these programs. But Teen Mom may be the most thought-provoking show on TV when it comes to addressing the cycle of poverty, financial literacy and how much young people truly need economic guidance (not to mention some affordable, accessible, reliable birth control) to keep themselves out of avoidable poverty at a young age — and hopefully, forever.

Photo credit: Polina Sergeeva