Teen Mom can impact teenagers in a very positive way. It has been proven to have lowered the birthrate in the U.S. It shows you the things teens loose or give up once they become a parent; along with the cost of raising a child as a teen.

Teen Mom is unlike other shows because it focuses on teenage pregnancy. It does not glamorize it like most shows do, it shows the friendships you lose, the education you lose and it shows the disappointment your family will feel towards you. Teenage girls that get pregnant think everything will be fine and it won’t be as hard as it looks. The teen mothers show you it’s not going to be easy. You get to witness what life is like with a baby. Teen Mom shows just how scary it is being a teen parent by showing you the lives of four teen’s who got pregnant at sixteen. That in itself is very impactful, because you see real life drama unfolding. It is not scripted you get to see all of the messes that the babies make from bodily fluids to the food and toys they spread all over the house. At the end of the day it’s the parents are responsible to clean up after. There is very little time or yourself after you have a baby, you rarely see the mothers getting to go out and party or to go shopping without having to find someone to watch the baby.

Being a teen parent puts a strain on all of your relationships. Friendships are lost because they either don’t want to be associated with a teen mom. Or because they don’t like that they are mothers and can’t just get up and go out with them. Boyfriend relationships are strained because being a teenage parent is very hard. Maci Bookout and her boyfriend Ryan Edwards (season one of Teen Mom) split up because things were so tough. They are not alone eighty percent of teen relationships fail because of a teen pregnancy. Friends and boyfriends are not the only ones affected families are as well. Parents tend to lose respect for the teenager after they become a teen parent. Teens have to give up their freedom and social life because they have to take care of their baby. Along with not having freedom they lose their education. Raising a child is hard, but as a teen in high school it is almost impossible. Teen Mom shows that the mothers either dropped out or if they were lucky they were very lucky just get off track a year or two.

If that was not hard enough the cost is even worse. When you watch T.V. shows about pregnancy they don’t show you how hard it is to support a baby. In Teen Mom it shows you how expensive it is to raise a baby. They don’t make things up they show you the real cost of how expensive it is to have a baby and how hard you have to work to pay the bills. On top of all of the things you have to buy them like diapers, clothes and food you have to pay for all of the doctor and medical bills. Having a baby is not easy or cheap.

Teen Mom shows teens just how hard it is to raise a baby as a teenager, by letting you see what goes on in their lives and the struggles they deal with everyday. Teen Mom has even been credited with reducing the rate of teen pregnancy. The show scares teens with reality. After watching it teens will think twice before they do things that can impact their future forever. And that is the message all of the teens on Teen Mom want everyone to see.