Nothing Entertaining About It

     I'm not sure when teen pregnancy became considered source of entertainment, but shows like MTV's Teen Mom and ABC Family's Secret Life of the American Teenager make no sense to me.
     Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2 follow eight girls as they struggle through parenthood after giving birth at a young age.  Like most shows on MTV, it is overly dramatic and often emphasize stereotypes.  This show along with Secret Life sort of glamorize teen pregnancy.  It makes it seem like if you get pregnant, you get put on TV.
    Also, if they're going to have shows about this issue, I would love to see all sides represented.  Not all teen moms are as dramatic as these girls are portrayed.  I personally know plenty of young and/or single moms who have graduated high school, college and pursued lucrative careers. I don't feel like these type of women are represented well in this show.
     If shows like this are going to continue to be a present source of entertainment, I would much rather it discourage teens from having sex at all.  Secret Life closes with a disclaimer about how teen pregnancy is 100 percent preventable, yet almost every character on the show is sexually active, one has a child and others are either pregnant or want to be.  If they are trying to prevent teen pregnancy, this is not the way to do it.
     I have a sister who is in high school and loves these shows. Honestly, this is not the kind of example I want set for my sister or her friends.  I don't want her to make similar mistakes to mine.  I would never consider having Isabella a mistake, but I do wish I would have waited to become sexually active until I was mature enough to really handle the consequences without having to rely so much on my parents.
    Whenever my sister Darby has any questions related to sex or anything for that matter, I am completely honest with her.  Too many parents try to protect their children by not educating them, but I think it makes them more curious, and they end up going to a friend for information or learning from experience.
     I would much rather Darby feel comfortable enough to talk to me about anything and learn from my mistakes rather than finding out the hard way for herself or based on some unrealistic TV show.
    Being a single and young mom is not easy. Luckily, I have an amazing support system so I don't have to go through it alone.  Most girls aren't as lucky.  This is why high schools should educate students much more on the topic and the direction these TV shows should be changed.
     Instead of making it look like it's normal and even cool to have sex in high school, teens should be encouraged to wait until they're married or at least out of high school.  The older and more responsible the better.  Because not having sex is the only way to 100 percent prevent getting pregnant before you're ready to be a parent.
     I love being a mom.  Being a parent is so rewarding, but trying to juggle school, work and being a mom is not an easy task at all; therefore, encourage the teens you know to be careful and wait.

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” -Malcolm X
      The media does influence society in so many ways especially those who are easily influence like teens and children.