To think that tv shows like Tracey Beaker give an unrealistic view of children in care?

[geezmyfeetarecold]

Ok its a bit silly and Im watching saturday telly

but

Does anyone else think this show glamorises or paints an unrealistic picture of life in a care home? Ive just heard the commentator say "have you ever wanted to join the kids in the dumping ground? Just go to cbbc....etc"

Now ive never been in a care home but Im imagining it isnt all trps to the beach and beautifully painted bedrooms?

however, there is so much stigma attatched on children when they go into care the last thing they need is a programme for their peers saying how shit their life is.

I assume with children in care there are some brilliant places and some awful ones.

YANBU
it's completely different from a real care home! But I am aware that Tracey Beaker is considered a good thing as a looked after child represented in the mainstream childrens' media - but that's by adults! Never heard what lac kids think of it.

YANBU but I also agree with Mrs Vidic's comments.

I remember when I was a kid I used to think it would be brilliant to live or work in an orphanage because kids' comics made them sound great fun.
Likewise, I'm sure many people had a miserable time at boarding school, but children's stories made it sound like it would be all midnight feasts and playing jokes on the teachers.

It was ever thus, I'm afraid.

Dd is in care with us and likes it, the way they tackle how useless the birth family are really struck a chord with her when she was younger.

Some looked after children dislike it because it means their mates think their life in a residential home is brilliant fun, and it's hard for them to explain that it isn't, when that's the only experience their friends have. Others like it because as MrsVidic says, it doesn't actually show it up for how miserable it can be.

Tracy Beaker, while I think a good show, and one that explores some topics really well, isn't that realistic. The age range is really skewed towards the younger end when in reality residential homes are mainly full of teenagers - kids younger than ten are put into foster care wherever possible. [Not to say that they don't try to put teenagers into foster care, just that it tends to be easier the younger they are as the older they are/the longer they've been in care, the more emotional baggage they come with and thus the more experienced foster carers you need.]

But then if you think about how many shows on TV are really portraying things exactly as in reality...y'know, nowhere's as miserable as Walford, nowhere has as many murders as Midsomer, so. I'd say it's more the responsibility of parents and wider society to be explaining to their kids that although Tracy Beaker is the only real knowledge they have of care, that doesn't mean it's accurate, and there are lots of other ways for it to happen.

YANBU care homes probably aren't much fun but it might help reduce or remove the stigma that follows people who have been in care.

I think the problem is that Tracey Beaker is the only portrayal of children in care (aimed at children); so it is always going to be too fun/too bleak.

If children in care were represented at all in soaps etc., there would be a better balance.