Teen Mom Domestic Violence...

This weeks episode of MTV's Teen Mom was extremely disturbing. The show in case you are not familiar is a follow up from the show 16 and Pregnant which followed several teenage girls through their pregnancies, labor and delivery and the first few weeks as a mom. Of the mom's who were followed MTV selected four to film the daily life of a teen mom with and so the TV hit Teen Mom was born. I watched 16 and pregnant as well as Teen Mom my entire pregnancy with the final show being aired while I was in the hospital after delivering Nicholas. I watched it on the DVR after coming home. I confess I am addicted.
One of the four mothers on the show however, Amber, really rubs my nerves raw. Over the past two seasons viewers have watched this young lady go from bad to worse with boyfriend and baby daddy Gary who at the start of season one was working and paying all the bills while Amber stayed home to care for their daughter Leah. Amber did nothing but complain and eventually left Gary and took Leah to a hotel. Gary of course chased after her and Amber decided to try and get a job and apply for welfare and moved into her own apartment. It appeared that was about as bad as it was going to get and at the end of the season on the two hours reunion special we find Amber and Gary once again back together and living under the same roof. The start of season two sees Amber and Gary still living together and obviously having sex since she had a "pregnancy scare" as she called it. Attention stunt is more like it but whatever. Thank the good lord that little test was negative!! Gary once again, really we've lost count of how many times this has happened, asked Amber to marry him and she once again said yes. The very next week she was at his throat and the week after that she had once again called off the wedding. Poor Gary. They have been fighting every since though Gary still lives with Amber.
This past week however crazy reached a whole new level as Amber loses her cool (again) and not only verbally assaults Gary but also physically assaults him as well..... TWICE. Gary to his credit stayed very calm and calming asked her to stop yelling and even suggested that child services needed to be called since this was so inappropriate for their daughter. Amber flips out and punches Gary in the face. Gary responds by picking up their daughter and walking out the door stating that he is keeping Leah forever. Amber continues to assert that Leah is HER daughter and in HER custody... I honestly don't think she understands how custody works. When Gary comes back to the house without Leah Amber is seen piling his personally belongings onto he stairs outside her front door and then assaults Gary again. She even kicks him in the back on his way down the stairs carrying a TV. Crazy. My husband is a tolerant man but no way in the world would he allow me to get away with that kind of treatment of him. Throughout the rest of the episode Amber complains to friends about how unfair it is for Gary to take Leah away. Unfair??? I don't think so. If you're willing to treat an adult the way she has treated Gary, sooner or later that aggression is going to be directed at the child. Leah is already treated like crap by Amber who is constantly yelling at her and trying to put her in her crib alone so she doesn't have to deal with her. I feel really bad for Leah.
I have to say though, that as disturbing as I found watching this episode what I find more disturbing is the apparent lack of reaction from the film crew. Shouldn't somebody step in, especially since there is a child involved, and stop an action that is criminal? Seriously? MTV is going to do nothing? If Gary is smart, and that remains to be seen, he would take that footage straight to a judge and have Leah taken from Amber and placed solely in his care. For all his many faults he at least obviously loves his daughter and steps up to be the only real parent she has known thus far. Why he didn't call the police is as much a mystery to me as why the film crew did not intervene. The most MTV did was to post a short add at the commercial break following that segment about a hot line for domestic violence. The situation that was caught on film is serious so why it wasn't treated appropriately I'll never know.

And a little advice for Amber; Sweetie, you "aint all that". You're not especially attractive, you don't have men banging down your door, and you could use a few lessons in anger management and parenting. GET HELP!! If you can't get help or simply don't want to how about making sure the next time you're going to assault somebody you don't do it in front millions of viewers on a nationally broadcast TV show... Have some common sense.