I’m still reeling from the season debut of the TV show “The Baby Borrowers." Whoa, baby! In case you live in a cave, this new NBC reality series takes dating teen couples who think they are ready for parenthood, sets each pair up in a nice house on a cul de sac, and “borrows” babies for them to take care of. Yes, a professional nanny is on hand in the house to monitor the interaction at all times and the real parents, who are watching the action from a closed circuit TV set across the street, have the option of jumping in at any time if they are concerned. But still, let's get real. I wouldn’t leave my Lab with one of these well-intentioned but hopelessly out of their element young couples for an hour, let alone a few days—and nights.

Surprise, surprise, the days and nights playing house together before the babies come the young couples describe as “honeymoons.” Well, duh. Two post-honeymoon incidents really stick out in my mind. First, things get interesting when the girls "get pregnant." One of the practice moms—who says she can't wait for a wee one of her own—cries and basically has a temper tantrum because she has to wear an uncomfortable and—more importantly—unattractive fake baby bump—and this to a class with other girls doing the exact same thing. Hoo-boy. She’s ready, right?

The other incident involves a girl who tries but fails to feed “her” baby all day long. When the real mom can’t stand it anymore, she goes over to have a calm but serious chat about the baby being more important than the girl and why she can't just let her starve, as frustrating as it may be to feed her. The girl freaks out, declares that the mom is a rhymes-with-witch or something to that effect, and demands to quit right then and there. So it's hardly a surprise that the next day, when one “parent” has to choose to stay home with the baby and the other to go to work, this girl announces that there is no way she isn’t leaving the house to go to work.

The bottom line? I think NBC could be on to something here. In fact, the show should be required watching for anyone even thinking of having sex. Forget abstinence education. This method of birth control might actually work.