Perhaps it’s because I never had kids, never wanted them and — truth be told — was extremely unsuccessful at being a child, but I’m am just loving every minute of “The Baby Borrowers,” which is on for two blissful hours on NBC tonight beginning at 8.

In this series, several teen couples play house in a cul-de-sac, with homes, jobs and budgets of their own and children borrowed from parents, who monitor their progress from closed-circuit TVs nearby. Professional nannies are also on hand to observe. And the parents of the teen couples show up to offer moral support and tough love. So despite recent articles about the dangers of separating babies from their parents for too long a period, I don’t think anyone is in peril here. The babies did seem mighty glad, however, to see their real parents at the end of last week’s episodes, although they were nowhere near as happy and relieved as the teen couples.

Tonight, the couples tackle toddlers, who — we don’t need Dr. Spock to tell us — have the emotional and physical dexterity of cat burglars. This ought to be good.

Actually, the show’s title is a bit of a misnomer. The teen couples progress from babies to toddlers to tweens to teens to caring for the elderly. I’ve seen the coming attractions and let me say, it’s all downhill. Babies screaming at 3 a.m. might be bad, but then, tweens screaming at you to get out of their room is not much of an improvement. Needless to say, important life lessons are learned as the teen couples meet with the actual parents at the end of each experiment and as their own parents drop by.

What’s far more fascinating to me is the psychological interplay. Some of the teens are natural parents. Others are not, which begs a politically incorrect question: Should everyone have children? I think not, but our society is so parent- and child-centered that the assumption is there’s something wrong with you if you don’t. Or you become a nonentity. The other day, the “Today” show aired a segment about lawn-mower safety that began with an horrific story about a child who got caught in the blades of a tractor-mower. The piece began with an advisory that parents might find the content disturbing. Really? Just parents? Not any feeling, thinking, caring human being?

Enough venting. Back to “The Baby Borrowers.” Clearly, some of the teens are more patient and at ease with the kids, who can smell fear the way dogs can. And while some of the “couples” grow as “parents,” it’s equally apparent that this social experiment should give them pause. If it makes them think about teen pregnancy, as the program’s ads suggest, then the show has done us a service.

I think what the series has to say about gender is also interesting. In our postfeminist age, we still hear a lot, often from young women on “Oprah,” about how they won’t be complete until they have a baby and from men (perhaps trying to score points) about how women are the “better” sex. Yet some of the best parenting on “The Baby Borrowers” is done by the guys. Whereas some of the greatest sulking — tantamount to Achilles fuming in his tent in “The Iliad” — is done by the girls.

They cry, take to their beds and barricade themselves in the bathroom over everything — the guys’ teasing them, the menial jobs they have to endure and most absurdly, the babies’ bad behavior.

Ladies, I have two words for you: Buck up. Not everything is about you. Indeed, the need to make everything personal — which, granted, enables women to succeed socially and multi-task — is precisely what keeps them from getting ahead in the leadership area. This is something women can learn from men: Sometimes you just have to step back, compartmentalize and let it go.

And pretend parents: There’s no such thing as “getting the bad baby,” as one couple grumbles. People are individuals with individual temperaments. Some temperaments are easier than others. Some need to be modified. But we can’t all be placid. Most qualities are neither good nor bad. It’s the context that drives our perception of them.

As “The Baby Borrowers” reminds us, we have to respect the integrity of each person. That means children, too.