Kids' Nation

Grandma Molly is whining tonight. I have just watched the reality t.v. show about forty kids in a cold desert, making their way for six weeks without adults. Yeah, I've read "Lord of the Flies", and as a teacher with more than forty years experience, I have often fantasized about what would happen to any group of kids I know if they had to make it on their own. It wouldn't be pretty.

I have several problems with this show's concept. First, I wonder WHAT were their parents thinking? Are we Americans so mesmerized with having our kids in the spotlight and out there as objects that we have lost our senses? Do these parents think that putting their kids in a competitive situation on national t.v. for $20,000 is what it's all about? What happened to family values? Maybe these are the same parents who put their little girls up to be Miss Sunshine in a beauty pageant, or got them into modeling. One child was described as being a spelling bee finalist, not so different.

It is ridiculous to think that these kids were really out there all alone and making life decisions. They were surrounded with camera booms and a huge trailer city of t.v. folks. The M.C. periodically appeared to pull things together. (and hand out gold stars and $2o,000 checks.) There was a helicopter pad. The kids were obviously chosen for their cuteness. There were no mean girls or aggressive boys. And, really, would you like to see your neighborhood bully or gang member on t.v.? The kids are all ethnicities, all adorable, just like in the commercials we see all the time on t.v.

This show was charming in a way; the kids were so appealing with their shiny hair and Gap clothes and straight teeth and articulate speech. This was not reality. (Real kids of this age do not bathe, their feet stink, and their hair is lank.)

What reality is in the best possible middle class world is a family going camping together. The kids help catch the fish and cook it, with the help and direction from Mom and Dad. Everyone sleeps in tents on the ground, and if it rains torrentially, it is an adventure for all. The youngest child who might be eight years old, (or eleven or twelve!), scared, and takes comfort from his folks who cuddle him in the dark and reassure him about this world. These parents know that this is a little guy (or girl) who needs to embedded in a family. This small creature does not need to be a t.v. star prematurely. On Kids' Nation, even those precocious, parent propelled kids, were worried about the opportunity they had to take a crap. What are we thinking?

So I am whining tonight. I am thinking about Quincy, our almost three year old grandson. He's cute enough and social enough to be a model on t.v. But what really interests him is looking at lizards, pretending to drive the tractor, and dipping into the reality of being with Grandpa and Grandma on the ranch. Someday he might want to go to sleep-away summer camp, as his mother happily did for many summers. But there will be no helicopters there, no t.v cameras. He'll just learn from friendly adults about wildlife, cooking, fire building, horses, or whatever.

If you watched this program, what do you think?