Kid Nation is a reality show where 40 child, aged 8 to 15, were brought to a ghost town in New Mexico and made to survive on their own without any adult supervision or intervention. The kids were taken out of school and no tutors were provided. Now that it is over, there is tons of controversy about the way the children were treated, and not treated and about violations of the law.
While there is much legal stuff going on, the real criminals are the parents that signed for and allowed their children to participate in this. I have two children and there is no way I would have allowed either one of them to participate in an event like this. Money is just not that important. The parents involved probably all hope that their children will be "discovered" and have successful careers as actors or models. One parent interviewed said her child was used to being in the limelight because she had been doing pageants for years.
Something is seriously wrong with a parent that would allow an 8 year old to go off and live like this. Something is seriously wrong with a school system that allows a child to miss school for so many days to be on a television show like this.
3 comments:
This so called "reality show" is just a symptom of the growth of disrespect for life and childhood itself in our society. Why do this at all? What is there to prove? William Golding wrote the quintessential classic novel about children shipwrecked on a deserted island, Lord of the Flies. The children become barbaric and murderous. I cannot fathom why a parent would subject their child to this type of survival show. Do this with adults, not children. In one case, it's extreme. In the other, just abusive.
I agree completely with Ms. Tsouris. The first thing I thought of when I read your post was Lord of the Flies. Golding's book so disturbed me when I read it in high school that I have never read it again. The parents who allowed their children to participate in this "experiment" are just plain lucky that no child was killed. The image of Piggy, impaled on a pole by his classmates, still sticks in my mind after all these years...
Once was enough for me with Lord of the Flies also. I'd never heard of this show. It's outrageous and amoral. I would not ever allow my child to do this, under any circumstance.
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