Parenthood is a Trip and so is ‘The Baby’

“When your Most Feared Adventure Falls into your Hands”  As someone who is afraid of the idea of having children, I get the emotional pressure from those around you; family insisting that upon marriage one must be prepared to give into “nature’s will.” The Baby covers the internal battles of being at odds with societal pressure to have kids and what that looks like metaphorically. The responsibility of parenting as a concept versus the cliché “it takes a village to raise a child” becomes burdensome to Natasha, and it’s personalized through her consistently trying to hand the baby off to other people. Problem is that the responsibility (no matter how brief) eventually leads to their demise. The ideology of not wanting to be a parent but having societal pressure and commentary boomerang back into your hands is personalized in each episode. What happens when you’re offered responsibility you never asked for, and how do you handle the grief that comes with it? My idea of motherhood and what that would look like as it was explored through The Baby felt conflicting. Part of me noticed that Natasha’s character was put in an irresponsible or cold light because of their lack of enthusiasm for children and parenthood.

When responsibility literally fell into Natasha’s hands, the community’s lack of awareness became evident. From law enforcement to retail employees, it became clear that she was supposed to take the responsibility of this child, because people around her (not inc…