THE BABY BORROWERS

I've been in a real rut the last couple of weeks.

No, really. I have.

I am not motivated to do anything. I just seem to wander around the house and look at things that need to be done, then tell myself they need to be done, then proceed to leave them undone.

Somebody help me!

Last night in my typical do-nothing mode, I sat in the basement and flipped channels.

Television last night was really stinky. I can't believe the garbage that was on.

I also can't believe I spent 90 minutes flipping from one pile of garbage to the other.

Seriously, folks, when are we going to put a stop to the reality shows? It's getting ridiculous. I think television producers are just getting lazy, so they slap a few "real" people on TV and let them go at it. That way the producers don't have to produce, the directors don't have to direct, and the writers don't have to write.

We shouldn't stand for this.

Anyway, have you seen The Baby Borrowers?

Seems they find some really smart and loving parents and convince them to give their children, of varying ages, to a couple of teenagers to "raise" for a weekend. Then the parents sit in a house across the street and watch it all through a monitor. I think the ages of the children increase each week.

Of course they make it clear that the teenage "parents" are shadowed by professional nannies. Um...the professional nannies last night looked about 19 - not that you can't be a good nanny at 19, but the one who had to "step in" at one point was not very assertive when, in all actuality, she should have been knocking those teenagers on their sassy little butts. Figuratively speaking, of course.

So these parents sit and watch their children through a monitor and see how well these teenagers, whom they've never met, take care of their children for a few days. These children weren't in their own homes. They had not met these "caregivers". They were away from their parents for days at a time - at very tender ages.

One of the teenagers complained that "her" little boy was nearly two years old and here he was "cryin' like a little baby."

Uh...ya think? Maybe that's because he IS a little baby and he's spent the last few days in a strange place with strangers taking care of him and scolding him for being a baby.

One little three year old, before bed, cried inconsolably because he wanted to go home and see Mommy.

Nice.

Another little boy was dragged across the floor by his hand to get his diaper changed.

And all the while the parents were watching from a monitor across the street saying things like "oh no, we don't want to do that."

Don't you think a better response would have been to march across the street, burst into the house, take your child and tell that sassy little teenager to NEVER. LAY. A. HAND. ON. MY. CHILD. AGAIN. YOU. LITTLE. SNOT. And then leave WITH YOUR CHILD, all the while feeling like a fool for getting involved in such a stupid experiment. Don't you think?

But no.

They all just sat and watched while their children were frightened, sad and confused. And at the end, most of them told the teenagers what a good job they did.

Are you kidding me?

All for the sake of a reality show. Oh, and probably some money.

So basically they have rented their children out to a group of people so these people could use them for their own advantage.

Can I say "pimping" on here?

Because I think that's called pimping.