I'm supporting my family. So what?

There was this episode of True Life on MTV today called True Life: I'm Supporting My Family. I gotta be honest, it kind of annoyed me. They followed two girls supporting their families, to show how hard it is. One girl is from here, in Queens, and has two parents with medical problems and like three siblings. She worked two jobs - one a receptionist, and one at after school care. I can't think of what it's called. At the end of the show, a blurb said she was trying to save up money to go to medical school the following year. If you're going to med school then you've already finished regular college. If you've finished regular college, then why didn't you get a higher paying job?

Then, the other girl - her mother died, and she's taking care of her four siblings. One of whom is a teenager and pregnant. The pregnant teenager's boyfriend also lives with them. Okay first of all, I would fucking stick my hands up into my sister's uterus to pull out the fetus myself and give her a home-abortion if she dared to get knocked up. I am fine busting my ass for the three of us, but there is no fucking way in hell I would let them put more stress on me with a dammed baby. Seriously, I would absolutely force them to have an abortion. Fuck religion, fuck personal feelings. We don't have room for either of those.

But then, this girl keeps talking about her siblings as her kids. Her mother only died two years ago. She seemed to love her mother. You can not replace someone. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Like she'd go out with a guy and say, "Does it bother you that I have four kids?" Of course it's going to bother them! I don't think of my sisters as MINE. I mean, I think of them as MY sisters as opposed to YOUR sisters. But I don't think of them as my children.

Anyway. She kept talking about how since her sister was having a baby (at one point she said she felt like she was about to become a grandmother) she needed to get all these baby things. Like a crib, bassinet, highchair, changing table, stroller, car seat.

Let's talk about this, can we? My mother had four kids. None of us are retarded. All four of us thrived. We had one car seat. I mean, like, my mother had one for Topher, and then later she got one for me and just kept it for like ten years until Alex wasn't a baby anymore. Same with a stroller. She never got a highchair. We sat in her lap or on our own chair to eat. She changed us on the floor or on the bed or couch. We slept in her bed. Whoever was the newest baby got to sleep with her. She had a play pen thing that she put us in when we needed a time out. So basically, you need a car seat and a stroller, but not all the other stuff.

Of course you're poor - you're spending your money on all the wrong things! Also, both girls had teenage siblings but none of them had jobs. What's up with that? Don't tell me "they're concentrating on school." I'm no rocket scientist and even I was able to work and keep my grades decent through high school. The key is, if you're going to get a bullshit high school job, always get one that has some sort of perk or discount. The diner wasn't great, but I got a lot of free meals while I was there.