Teen Mom: Season 1

A cautionary tale for today's teens
Many claim this show glamorizes teen pregnancy, but perhaps the people who say that haven't actually watched the show. Or perhaps their lives are so miserable that Teen Mom actually does look like a step up. If you ask me, however, raising a child by yourself (as is the case for most of these teen moms), struggling to finish high school let alone attempt college, becoming addicted to drugs (like Farrah apparently did according to her new auto-biography) or clinically depressed and suicidal (in the case of Amber) doesn't sound "glamorous" at all to me! This show makes me feel happy that I didn't end up like these girls. You couldn't pay me enough to want to live their lives, and if they do get paid 60k a year, it's not enough to make up for all the suffering they'll have to endure thanks to their decision to have unprotected sex at a young age. Fighting with some "baby daddy" (as in the case of Maci) all the time looks like a nightmare. Or losing custody of your own child and...

Advice to all of the girls
This is a really good reality show about teen moms and their struggles to raise their infants. It isn't what I thought it would be because I thought that it would be the camera following the girls around while they are taking care of their children. (I guess that doesn't make good TV). It is really about their interactions with their families and fathers of their children.

I am a married woman in my thirties who has a full time job who has a daughter the same age as their kids. Compared to them, my life has much less drama. My daughter has stayed in the same house, went to the same preschool, and her dad and I are married to each other and live together. She has a lot more stability than the teen moms kids.

I can't help but feel for these girls and sometimes forget how young they are. I think that if I were in their shoes, I would probably stay dependent on my parents even now. If I were financially independent, I would not have a great paying job and my...

Glamorize Teen Pregnancy?
Does Teen Mom really confront the issues of being a teen mother or does it glamorize teen pregnancy? There is a lot of controversy surrounding this series, many critics have said that young girls are intentionally becoming pregnant to get a spot on the show. The message being sent from the executives at MTV is definitely mixed. The intentions were to show the struggles and the trials that a teen mom faces when raising a child, but their paychecks definitely tell us a different story. The salaries of the cast members haven't officially been released by MTV but according to a press release from Life & Style Magazine, the girls earn anywhere between $60,000 - $65,000 each per season and with up to two season a year the cast members aren't exactly struggling.

In addition to their wages, the cast members are getting so much attention by the media that at least one of the moms appears on the cover of the weekly gossip magazine and is viewed by every teenage girl in the checkout...

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