Protesting TLC Program!

Edwin and I were up late with our little Night Owl and happened to catch a new series that is starting on TLC called The Secret Life of a Soccer Mom. The advertisements for the show looked super cute and I thought "that looks like fun!" The series is about stay-at-home moms who are given the opportunity to work out of the home in their dream job for 5 days. The family was told that they were being filmed while mom went to a spa retreat for the week and dad gets to do all of mom's responsibilities. The episode we watched was a mom of four who wanted to be a police officer like her husband. When they got married they agreed that he would work and she would raise the family at home. They have a happy life together, but she still wants to know if she has what it takes to be an officer. She is enrolled in as a police cadet in California and is given a series of physical tests (including being sprayed directly in the face with pepper spray) and has the opportunity to ride along with another officer for the day. Yes, we enjoyed watching the program...until the end. Mom goes home to the family and tells them what she's really been doing for the week. The family watched video clips of mom as an officer. They were shocked to see some of the things she did, but they were glad she was safe and okay. All is well with the program up to this point. Then the shows host says "we have a surprise for you and mom doesn't know about this either." They proceed to offer her a place at the academy with a scholarship! They tell her she has to make a decision immediately and so they film mom and dad trying to make a major decision that will ultimately change the entire family. NO ONE can (or should) make those kind of decisions under pressure! You could see how much mom wanted this tantalizing opportunity and how much dad was opposed to it. He said he didn't want his wife to see the things he saw and experiences as an officer. I felt like the program was really about breaking up a happy home. It's terrible to me that a TV program is deliberately preying on stay-at-home moms and creating conflict in the home. Edwin and I were both quite upset at the end and it's a program I just can't watch again. Moms have it tough....it's the way it is. Some moms work because they have too. Others stay home even though they greatly miss the work force. Some moms work for their own interests. Whether working or not I feel that most moms want what is the best for their families. We don't need outside forces to entice us to do ANYTHING that is contrary to the happiness and success of our families. Here's a link from some random blog that put things together nicely http://www.careerandkids.com/the-secret-life-of-a-soccer-mom/