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.

Its not a hatred of intelligent kids at all. Its the recognition that many of the kids on that programme hate being on it and it looks like they are just under so much pressure and expectations from their parents. I feel the same about pushy parents in sports and music. I also think its great to be intelligent, but a strange way of using your intelligence.

why shouldn't bright kids get a bit of attention for their talent as well, for once?

But they do - maths competitions, robotics competitions, chess tournaments etc. All of these are promoted and the successful participants feted at my kids' school. They're performing in a similar way to musicians doing concerts or a kid playing sport - in context and amongst peers and engaged adults.

Totally different to ramping up kids' and parents' anxiety and promoting various rivalries and then televising it. It's utterly gratuitous.

I can't stand the programme. It makes me angry and I won't normally watch it. However I saw the last five min last night and One of the mothers made me so angry. Rather then telling her obviously upset son he had some well she kept saying he had been very Lucky and had hit through by the skin of his teeth. Just cruel

I couldn't understand why the kid whose mum was in intensive care at the hospital was still taking part. Weird priorities

Oh come on! Do you really think the kids do not want to do it?you think they would sit down and spend an hour memorising a pack of cards if they didn't want to Yes they get stage fright, yes they get disappointed as you would expect.The pressure they are putting themselves under is coming from them themselves. If your child had been studying like crazy for something for weeks/months wouldn't you want them to see it through , to do well?
I agree though that is a memory test.the kids are given the material to memorise beforehand and the maths questions are piss easy.American child genius makes these kids look like simpletons

Memorising lists of complicated words to impress tv viewers doesn't make a child a genius

I watched a bit last night and, without knowing the background, was at first agog that the children knew these words, and then quickly realised there's no way they had this vocabulary at their fingertips and that they must have learnt set words. I think the purpose of this section though is to make the more gullible think "oh, look how clever they are! I'm an adult and have never even heard of these words.
Not only do they know them, but can spell them!" It's all very disingenuous, and not a test of genius at all, rather the ability to learn large amounts of information by rote... an increasingly pointless ability in this internet age.

Broken, how on earth do you imagine a show like this gives a child anything useful that will enable to use their particular gift in a way that will develop it and make it productive?

If you want to celebrate intelligence, why not do it in the form of a chess competition or essay competition or design-the-best-robot?

As nolonger points out, it's the lack of context. These children are going to find out very soon (and possibly painfully) that mere intelligence without context doesn't do anything. Intelligence put into context is a glorious thing.

diamond, you'd have to be pretty naïve not to realise that there are children who do all sorts of things because they are pressured by their parents and afraid that their parents will love them less if they don't. In the world of sports and singing and any other competitive setting.

Do we know how the mum in intensive care is yet?

I LOVE that programme! I find the kids so endearing and so lovely, it really breaks the stereoptype of the genius socially arrogant awkward stereotype.

I don't find any of the parents' attitude wrong, all are caring, all supportive, even if pushy.

I think many people, especially in this generation, can't understand that not everyone shy aware from pressure and competition and that many thrive on it. Yes, they get stressed and anxious, but for many, it's not something to avoid because going through it is making them stronger, and stronger is what they want to be.

My DD is not a genius, just clever and she is not massively competitive against others but like these kids, she is extremely strong minded and determined. She always was, I could recognise it in her eyes when she was only 3 months old and she would not give up trying to grab a toy. It is a part of her personality, who she is, and I take her as she is, just as I would have if she'd shown no interest in competition at all. Yes, she's has already experience disappointment, frustration, that awful feeling of unfairness when she hasn't done as well as she'd expected despite working very hard towards something. She has a bad day, a good cry, but she, and she alone then pick herself up and wants to do it again, because that's who she is, just like I expect these kids are. If I were to tell you that it is too much for her and that she should stop, she would be very miserable and resentful.

It is very sad that we seem to be evolving in a society where stress is considered all evil to be avoided at all costs. This is why there are so many kids and young adults who have no resilience whatsover and can't cope with the most normal tasks.

Stress is part of life. Sometimes it makes you feel bad, but sometimes it takes you to successes that make you feel fantastic.

Competition is not for everyone, but some people really thrive on it. They don't need to be judged by people who can't understand this, just as they learn not to judge people who are not interested in competition.

I think these kids are already showing a lot more emotional intelligence than many adults.

Utter rubbish swingofthings. Most of the children on the show appear to be damaged by the experience.

I honestly think Rahol has Aspergers. The way he spoke on day 2 to the camera man, his tics and anxiety - he reminds me so so so much of my son who is a similar age.

I was really confused by the poor boy who stayed in when his mum had collapsed and was in ITU. Not just hospital, but intensive care.

I think a lot of it is editing, with facial expressions towards other candidates etc, but the parents are awful.

Not only do they know them, but can spell them!" It's all very disingenuous, and not a test of genius at all, rather the ability to learn large amounts of information by rote... an increasingly pointless ability in this internet age.
Yes, and that's part of being a genius! It's about how they can use their brain in a way to process an amazing amount of information very quickly. It IS intelligence and something that only people with extremely high IQ can do to that level.

It's not any more pointless that running a marathon. That's pointless too and it won't make you forcibly healthier on its own, but it contributes to it.

It really gets to me when people ask me with desdain why I would want to go through the intense training to do it because it is pointless isn't it?

I don't expect everyone to understand it, but please don't judge because you don't and assume that I'm stupid for wanting to do it. Some people get a good buzz from a few pint of beers in a pub, I get that same buzz pushing myself running. These kids get that buzz pushing themselves mentally.

Rahul's father is genuinely disturbing.

Actually some gifted memorisers are of very low general intelligence. Their brain is wired differently

I love Only Connect, which undoubtedly features some of the UK's brightest people. It's interesting how many of them haven't got stellar careers. I imagine how bright they must have been as children and what happens to them in their lives which makes them become taxi drivers or assistant betting shop managers or whatever. Some of the brightest people I know barely make a living. All of this makes me wonder what the future has in store for the Child Genius contestants.

Utter rubbish swingofthings. Most of the children on the show appear to be damaged by the experience.
You're proving my point of not getting it! They will probably end up with the high power jobs that most in minimum wage will snigger out, crying how they had it easy being lucky and they don't deserve their salary.

They won't though swingofthings. Read my other post.

Are you an expert then who have all the facts?

There are expert child psychologists on this programme, do they not know what they are doing then?

Having a good cry, letting out frustration and disappointment is NOT being damaged!

swingofthings Part of being genius is not having a high working memory. In IQ assessments it's only one of 4-5 parameters assessed. It's massively useful for mathy kids as they can hold numbers and multi step tasks in their head and move on quickly and it certainly makes people look very smart but it's also perfectly possible to be very smart without high processing/WM.

I think the selection process has been directed at finding the charismatic kids who look and act normal.Every gifted (in the true sense of the word) child I have met has not been like this

We turned over to another channel after under 2 minutes.

Have you actually watched the show swing? So many of the children have zero confidence before they start to compete and even less when they are finished. Success in real life is dependent upon many more factors than raw intelligence and certainly a lot more than being able to memorise a sequence of playing cards.

What I think IS damaging is the notion that children must be protected from failure, stress , disappointment and so on.All these are a normal part of life and build resilience

I don't disagree with the idea that children need to build up resilience. Many of the children on Child Genius had precious little of that. However, I'm not sure that I like the idea of watching that process on television.