To HATE Child Genius?

[ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs]

DH and dd are watching and I can't stand it. All those poor kids, crying from the pressure their egomaniac parents have put them under. IT DOESN'T MATTER!! Surely you can be proud of your lovely smart kids without pimping them out to tv. Makes me raging and sad in equal measure.

[LetZygonsbeZygones]

YANBU. There shouldn't be any further series of this. It's so grim. And so hard to watch the kids trying to meet such ridiculous and cruel expectations. I notice that little Rahul is rocking while he is sat waiting for his turns. Horrible to see.

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

The parents are constantly making comments such as 'we have a good chance of winning' and 'we are feeling confident' and I just want to shout 'its not you in the fucking competition it's your poor kid who is doing the work and feeling the stress and having a bloody breakdown over the whole thing!'

[PJBanana]

Agree. Adulthood comes with so many pressures, it seems to unfair to subject kids to this.

Plus, you can tell the children who genuinely enjoy it and those who are being pushed very clearly.

[ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs]

Thank you LetZ! I feel really stressed for them all! It is horrible to watch.
Reminds me of a school nativity play at my dc school where Joseph started sobbing and they just left him on the stage sobbing. I was so close to running up and taking him off and telling him he did great . A teacher finally took him off after what seemed like an agonising ages, then at the end they apologised for him . Why are so many expectations put into little children?

[ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs]

Thank you LetZ! I feel really stressed for them all! It is horrible to watch.
Reminds me of a school nativity play at my dc school where Joseph started sobbing and they just left him on the stage sobbing. I was so close to running up and taking him off and telling him he did great . A teacher finally took him off after what seemed like an agonising ages, then at the end they apologised for him . Why are so many expectations put into little children?

[LetZygonsbeZygones]

And Nerissas mother going on about this experience giving her confidence and making her realise how special she is. No it won't. You could see the whole sodding competition was a nightmare for the poor girl. She looked broken on many occasions. What th fuck is wrong with these parents.

[LetZygonsbeZygones]

For some of the kids they are alternating with a whole host of shitty and damaging feelings from humiliation to embarrassment, failure and profound stress. How is this abuse allowed to go on air each year.

[Joinourclub]

Though I agree that some of the parents see the competition as being 'theirs' I do think that us is good for bright children to do this sort of thing. Bright kids can likevthiscare used to always being successful, to winning everything. They need to know how to lose!

[ShatnersBassoon]

I squirm when the parents try to appear relaxed and nonchalant, but they're obviously a hair's breadth away from going postal when their child 'fails'. They come across as maniacs, obsessing about proving that they've created the best child.

[senua]

Quite apart from the damage to the DC, I hate how much repetition there is. How many times did we have it explained to us tonight that 6 scores more than 5? If we are the sort of people who watch 'genius' programmes then please credit us with some brain cells ourselves. It's all explained in words of one syllable before the ad break, after the ad break and then again, in case we weren't paying attention.
I much prefer Richard Osman on Pointless where we hear all the questions and all the answers because they know that we are playing along at home.

[CremeBrulee]

Agree that it's grim and cruel to the kids. Not watching it this year.

[deadringer]

It's awful. I imagine all those kids are the smartest in their class/school and sort of 'stars' in their community, they seem happy and confident that they are super smart. Then they enter a competition like this and discover that there are lots of kids who are as smart as them, maybe even smarter. And even worse than that it's televised so everyone in their community gets to see them being beaten. (except the winner of course). They must go home absolutely broken hearted. Its unnecessary and cruel imo.

[TheUpsideDown]

Totally agree. DH put it on as he finds it fascinating that kids so young are that intelligent. But I asked if we could turn it off 20 mins in as I find this sort of stress and pressure on children quite upsetting.

I'm all for encouraging bright children to reach their potential, but this competition is really difficult to watch. I just want to say "C'mon kids, let's just go wild somewhere super fun and forget all this!"

[PodgeBod]

But is it any difference to children being pushed in sports or athletics?

[PodgeBod]

*different that should say. I'm clearly no genius

[Crumbs1]

Ghastly programme and horrid way to treat children.

[QueenLaBeefah]

The children all seem lovely. The parents, however, seem like a bunch of dicks.

I hope they don't make anymore.

[ineedamoreadultieradult]

podgebod children don't normally compete in sports or athletics on TV where they are paraded as some sort of freak of nature.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

I'm really disliking this series. They are putting in nasty little twists that seem designed to break the kids.

[CremeBrulee]

TBH I would find it just as abhorrent to see kids pushed to 'perform' for parental glory like this in sport, music or any other discipline.

[IcanMooCanYou]

Hate it too and agree with everything said so far. I've only caught bits of a few of them, but what I've seen doesn't seem to me to test intelligence- just memory. I may be wrong and may have missed big chunks but haven't seen anything where understanding and reasoning skills are tested.

[LittleLionMansMummy]

Rahul's dad said something very telling yesterday when Rahul came off the podium having scored highly. "Thank you!" he exclaimed, before correcting himself to "I mean, well done!" Too late though, his Freudian slip was already out there for everyone to see his transparency. You see poor little Rahul knows he'll be letting his dad down if he doesn't win, because his dad's anxious face tells him that every time he goes up on the podium. He's living out success for his dad.

I actually thought there seemed a good number more 'normal' parents too this year though - ones who were genuinely 'it really doesn't matter, you're great anyway and have done brilliantly'. All the same, not sure how some parents think the way to improve their kid's confidence is sticking them in front of an audience of millions...

[nolongersurprised]

I hate shows where children are encouraged to perform for the gratification of adults. I see it as akin to child beauty pageants.

[Tiptoethr0ughthetulips]

Rahul is the most concerning to me, he's showing signs of real stress and anxiety. I've noticed he rocks and twitches a lot and seems to get upset if there's any noise or frivolity from the other kids. His dad is a fucking nutter, living his dreams through his son.

[gutrotweins]

Not watching.
Smart is thinking outside the box!