{"id":1575,"date":"2007-12-21T16:00:47","date_gmt":"2007-12-21T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2007\/12\/a-silver-lining-to-spears-preg.html"},"modified":"2007-12-21T16:00:47","modified_gmt":"2007-12-21T16:00:47","slug":"a-silver-lining-to-spears-preg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/12\/a-silver-lining-to-spears-preg.html","title":{"rendered":"A Silver Lining to Spears’ Teen Pregnancy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"zoey101.jpg\"For the past few days bloggerati the world over have been consumed with covering Jamie Lynn Spears\u2019 recently announced pregnancy; this blog included. And while many muse about the Nickelodeon star not learning valuable lessons from Britney\u2019s missteps and potentially ruining a considerable career, other news outlets, such as the New York Times<\/a>, are trumpeting that parents and children are engaging in a new round of frank, sex talk; something that both parents and children dread, but is phenomenally important.
\nBut I say take this new more open environment even further and give Jamie Lynn her own reality show \u2013 show teens what it\u2019s like to be an unwed, 16-year old mother. Nickelodeon says it is talking with \u201cNick News\u201d host Linda Ellerbee about producing a special on the issue of teen pregnancy, but while I love Ellerbee and she’s genius with the kids, a reality show may drive the message home better with its unique blend of edutainment.<\/p>\n


\nSure, Spears\u2019 family is financially more able to handle an unexpected pregnancy, but Jamie Lynn\u2019s fears will be as real as any other expectant teen mother\u2019s and the possible reactions to pending motherhood the same \u2013 guilt, depression, denial. And if, as she says, she wants to tell teens not to engage in premarital sex, then this is the perfect platform. Heck, I know when, as a preteen, I saw a filmstrip of a woman going through natural childbirth, I decided then and there that pregnancy was not on any of my immediate \u201cto do\u201d lists. There didn\u2019t seem to be anything \u201cnatural\u201d about it, frankly; painful and traumatic, most definitely.
\nI\u2019m not saying that we should witness Ms. Spears give birth (although, can you imagine those ratings?), but Nickelodeon should hire the producers of MTV\u2019s \u201cTrue Life\u201d series, or the documentary-directing Naudet brothers, to produce a gritty, cinema verite-style show that uncovers what it\u2019s like to be a teen mother. Perhaps Nickelodeon would air it later at night due to the mature content, but it\u2019s Nick\u2019s demographic that needs to watch and learn \u2026 and apparently its stars, too.Sure, it would be controversial, but so was \u201cDegrassi Junior High\u201d when, in 1987, the Canadian show featured a storyline in which 14-year old Spike gets pregnant after having sex for the first time and decides to raise the baby. That episode not only went on to win the series an Emmy, but is now recommended parent-child viewing by pediatricians.
\nAccording to the aforementioned New York Times\u2019 article, older sisters are now worried that their younger sisters who idealize the perfect and perky Zoey character, and the actress who plays her, \u201cmight think it was \u2018cool\u2019 to be 16 and pregnant.\u201d I say, let\u2019s show them the reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past few days bloggerati the world over have been consumed with covering Jamie Lynn Spears\u2019 recently announced pregnancy; this blog included. And while many muse about the Nickelodeon star not learning valuable lessons from Britney\u2019s missteps and potentially ruining a considerable career, other news outlets, such as the New York Times, are trumpeting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebrities"],"yoast_head":"\nA Silver Lining to Spears' Teen Pregnancy?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/12\/a-silver-lining-to-spears-preg.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Silver Lining to Spears' Teen Pregnancy?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the past few days bloggerati the world over have been consumed with covering Jamie Lynn Spears\u2019 recently announced pregnancy; this blog included. 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