Leah Messer, Catelynn Lowell, Tyler Baltierra Describe Protecting Kids’ Privacy …

The Teen Mom stars have not been teenagers for a very long time.

In fact, many of them have teens of their own. Thankfully, not second-generation teen moms.

There are unique parenting challenges that come with this particular vein of reality stardom. One major issue is children’s privacy.

Catelynn Lowell, Tyler Baltierra, and Leah Messer are answering fan questions about how they manage this balancing act.

Teen Mom franchise stars Leah Messer, Catelynn Lowell, and Tyler Baltierra spoke to the good folks at TooFab in a recent interview.

Their children aren’t babies anymore. They know that they’re famous.

And they’re old enough to have opinions about appearing on camera. So how do their parents draw appropriate lines to protect their kids?

“Well, I think for us, our kids know, like Nova will be like, ‘Mom, I don’t want to film today. I don’t want nothing to do with it,’ or whatever,” Catelynn explained.

“And we respect that,” she emphasized, adding: “And so does our producer.”

Notably, some reality shows have encountered “problems” (depending upon whom you ask) involving producers pressuring reality stars to film. Or keeping cameras on to capture private conversations.

“It’s more or less like we don’t share every little thing that our kid tells us that’s going on in her life,” Catelynn elaborated.

This, she explained, is “because she has the right to share that when she’s ready.” Nova, like all children, is a person.

Catelynn then mentioned: “If she opens up about it on camera, then that’s her thing.”

Leah chimed in to agree. She emphasized the importance of respecting the privacy of her daughters. And she has a similar policy in her own home.

“I’ve made their bedroom their sacred space,” she characterized.

“So if they do not want to film in there, we do not film in there,” Leah affirmed. “If they don’t want to film at all … that’s been respected.”

And this has more benefits than the inherent good of respecting the inherent personhood of her children.

“Having that has also allowed them to enjoy filming,” Leah detailed.

“They enjoy it a lot more,” she explained, “because I gave them that privacy before and it was respected.”

“So now,” Leah continued, “the filming and sharing stuff that they want to share doesn’t bother them.”

She added: “They enjoy it.”

People do tend to enjoy work more when it’s something that they choose. Obviously. There are words for involuntary, unpaid labor, and none of them are great!

Teen Mom stars are not the only people who are having to make these choices for their kids. And some groups are absolutely failing their children.

On reality TV, there are instances like Jacob Roloff. The moment that he turned 18, he left Little People, Big World and moved away — because he’d been filming against his will for years.

Another example is “momfluencers” (or other Family Vloggers) who turn their children’s lives into “content.” Honestly? We desperately need federal laws to protect minors. Not everyone’s going to make conscious choices like Tyler, Catelynn, and Leah describe.

Leah Messer, Catelynn Lowell, Tyler Baltierra Describe Protecting Kids’ Privacy … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.