BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids ER episode last night and parallels I drew

I was watching last night's episode of ER, and I'm not sure how many of you guys are still watching, but there was one part of it that actually seemed to reflect what many of us think/know about our choices in the whole "to have kids or not to have kids" question. The character of Dr. Pratt, who has come a long way since he first started at County General, is finally involved in a somewhat long-term relationship with a radiologist there. She is pushing for them to buy a place together and get married, but he's not so sure. Later on, he had a conversation about this with a another doctor at County, a newer one - a free-spirit who doesn't believe in "forever" monogamous relationships - her name is Skye. She told him that sometimes people do things they don't want to do b/c of the extreme pressure to conform that they feel from society, and that just because others are doing it, they feel that they have to do it too, not realizing that they do have a choice in how their lives turn out (I'm paraphrasing a bit here). Anyway, as this conversation was happening, I was so happy, because though they were not talking about the topic of kids directly, they were echoing what we think about all the time - the fact that in this life, we all have choices, and we need to do what will make us happy, not everyone else. I thought it was nice to see that type of conversation happen on TV, where usually, along with movies, celebrity magazines, etc., the whole marriage/children thing is hyped and discussed as if there were no other choice.

Sorry if I'm rambling or if that didn't make sense - I just found it refreshing. Of course, on the other hand, after seeing that ER Thursday night, I was out and about Friday night, and when in line at the grocery store/other stores, every single celebrity magazine (People, Us, InStyle, InTouch, etc.) had pregnant celebrities or those who had just given birth on them! And we wonder why so many people get knocked up and have babies when they truly don't want them? I think we're in the middle of an attempt at brainwashing, at least lately!

Contrast this to the other night, watching Grey's Anatomy and another show... in each show, at one point a character looked snidely at another character and said "You don't have children, DO you?" The Grey's episode was the one where the guy waiting for a heart transplant has to decide if he'll take his daughter's heart after she's killed in a car wreck. At least they had George jump in with something like, "I may not have kids, but I have parents and this is what I'd want for my dad..." (obviously paraphrasing here)

I don't remember the other show, just that I was disgusted that twice within a two-hour block, a CF person was sneered at and told they couldn't understand something because they don't have kids.

It just really ticked me off.

i know what you mean about the celebrity thing.it's so ridiculous how they glamorize it! it's almost like these celebs are bragging about a new pair of shoes they bought.to me it's almost like they feel and probably they do can get whatever they want and that includes having a baby. i'm so sick of seeing stories about pregnant celebs.isn't there anything else they can write about. i'm not too much into the celeb thing but i'll read a celeb mag every now and then.

i always use the argument that even though i don't have kids i had parents. i usually use this in reference to" you don't know about raising kids yadda yadda b/c you dont' have any." true but i always say that i had parents and i know how they raised me and that is my reference. also having gone to school to work with kids i would like to think that i know something about them. i don't remember seeing any "parenting schools."

indigo

tbunny, I remember the GA episode you are talking about, and I was glad that George handled it that way - I mean, we all LOVE people in our lives, whether they're parents, a spouse, siblings, other relatives, friends, pets, etc. It's not as if we're not capable of understanding love, simply because we do not yearn to [censored] out little versions of ourselves left and right!

indigo2, I used to read those celebrity magazines, like People and US a lot more than I do now, but it's become harder and harder to do, because instead of getting to read about the latest news in entertainment, I get bombarded with "guess who's got a baby bump?" or "new pictures of baby _____" - it's ridiculous.