Borrowing Broken Hearts

Last night's episode of "The Baby Borrowers" was probably the most dramatic so far. The teens trying out parenting were given teenagers to take care of for three days. The stress on the young couples has reached an explosive point now. One of the fathers went home and another couple essentially broke up though they are sticking with the program. There is only one week left, when they will care for seniors. I'm not sure about the rational for elder care being part of the experience. Maybe they will explain it next week.

The show was filmed near Boise and a lot of familiar places are shown. The Westside Drive-in, here in Boise, is where Kelsey and Sean took turns working. It's one of my favorite places to eat. The program has been on the news quite a bit, since it has local interest. One of the babies came from a local family. His parents were interviewed and, like the other real parents involved, they felt they were helping encourage teen couples to put off having children.

One of last night's teen children, Sam, is also local. He said he was told to be himself, but that he could make a little havoc if he wanted to. I think he took it over the top, but I felt like Cory and Alicea did a good job of managing him. When Sam's mother came to pick him up, Alicea turned the table on the mother. In previous episodes, the real parents often lectured the teen parents. Last night, it was Sam's mother who got the lecture. I'm sure the boy isn't as bad as he came across, but Alicea probably didn't realize that.

Another couple of things about the show being filmed in Idaho. I hope it changes the general populace's idea of what the state is like. Boise, the state capital, is very modern and has a strong cultural bent. We have theaters, ballet and so forth. We also have a river running through town and many fly fishing shops, even within blocks of the capital building.

Every time we have visitors from other states, we take them on the Tour Train. I'd never heard mention of the two-headed calf. We've toured the Idaho History Museum and I don't remember seeing it. Idaho is certainly an agricultural state, but we're not all a bunch of hicks, and I hope the show makes viewers aware that there is more to the state than potatoes. When was of the teens talked about owning a gun, that's probably true. Idaho is a very outdoorsy place and hunting is very popular. I had a doctor delay my surgery one year till after hunting season.

One last thing about it being local. A couple of weeks ago they had an open house event on the circle where the home from "The Baby Borrowers" was filmed. They were selling off furniture and props. The townhouses are also for sale. Ads for the development air during the show here.

So, back to last night. Daton and Morgan have had their ups and downs. I think they came onto the show having just broken up. Their relationship is referred to as being 'off and on'. Some of the things Morgan did while they had the preteens upset Daton. She had been more a friend than parent to the boy they cared for. Their teen 'son' ended up going through the drama of his 'parents' fighting and splitting up. It was hard on him. Similarly, Austin and Kelly's ward had to witness days of fighting.

I think the only families that had fun were the two who got teenage girls. In a way, I was disappointed that Jordan and Sasha didn't get one of the boys. I had been looking forward to seeing how Jordan would handle a mischevious lad. He did impress everyone on the night when the three boys decided to paper the neighborhood. No one got away with anything and he had the boys out cleaning up the mess in the middle of the night.

Since she was now a single parent, Morgan had to go to work and left her 'son' with the request that he clean the house up. The place was a mess! I could somewhat understand Daton's frustration with her. The boy actually did as Morgan asked and she came home to a clean house. His mother has to be proud of how he did.

Will Austin and Kelly make it through the final episode? Has the program taught all teen parents anything? Hopefully, we'll find out next week.