To raise questions about kids on family reality TV?

[Utterbunkum]

I have been reading a few articles recently about kids who grew up in 'you tube' houses. It makes for sobering reading. Many felt their privacy was invaded without their permission, parents bullied them to perform for the camera or they felt obliged because it was a family source of income. Unlike the professional world child actors, hours of work pertaining to age regulations don't apply to filming in your own home, but for many of these kids it IS work. Whilst they may benefit from increased family wealth, they aren't paid for it.

All this made me think about the number of family reality shows - 22 kids and counting, Escape to the Chateau, etc - featuring kids that may not have been consulted about having cameras in their homes, and may not understand the wider implications of a life lived in front of a camera.

Years ago, there used to be a show on called 'Wife Swap'. I always felt for the kids, particularly the little ones who had their lives turned upside down for a fortnight.

Of course, I can just not watch the shows, and I don't watch any of the current family reality offerings, but other people do. Those kids have their family lives in the public domain and it won't disappear when the cameras leave for good. If the kids aren't home schooled, they have to put up with their peers commenting on the show, and even if they are HS, they will still encounter strangers who know all about their lives. Then there's the online abuse, because people on TV are seen as 'fair game'

Should family reality shows really be a thing? It's bad enough for the showbiz kids that are pushed into it by stage mothers, but at least it's not in their own home and it isn't an exposé of their own lives.

I just wonder how much say the kids get in all this and whether it's really right to exploit kids living their own lives in their own homes on a regular basis?

I’ve always thought the same.

I agree with you. The Duggars spring to mind.

I haven't heard of the Duggars. Is that an American one?

I agree it is wrong and an invasion of privacy that will follow then all their lives. I feel the same about all the instagram parents using their kids to make a quick buck and be one ‘famous’ for themselves. Imagine being in your late teens and every little tantrum u ever had being available to mock you with when you are a teenager. It needs regulating or even better stopping.

I can only speak with any knowledge about TV production. It always appears from our perspective that none of the restrictions and regulations that apply to us seem to apply to other types of media.
In legal terms, permission always comes from the parents. They are the ones signing release forms for the children and increasingly broadcasters say that both parents need to sign, not just one. Depending on the nature of filming and when it takes place the kids may also need to be licensed by their local council.
Speaking to an in-house lawyer recently, I found out that when they turn 18 the child can retract the permission, which would mean either the show can't be aired again or that they would need to be blurred and voice altered.
It is in everyone's best interests for the kids to be happy with the process as 'Channel 4 and Wife Swap forced me to be on camera when I was a child' isn't a great headline for either the broadcaster or for the companies producing the shows. The is this ok conversations often go beyond just is this legally ok. Contributor welfare is also increasing a concern within an industry that hasn't centered it as much as it should over the years.

@PinkArt that's very interesting, thank you. Unfortunately, children, particularly young ones, often aren't revealing pressures put on them because of trouble it might get them into at home. Whilst I am sure production Companies do all they can, sadly the child who doesn't want to be on camera will likely be silenced by their parents.
It's not likely to be Wife Swap pressured me', more 'Mum and Dad pressured me' and we probably won't hear about it until the child is an adult, by which time there's a good chance the show will already no longer on air, but could be pulled from repeats.
It's good to know broadcasters take this seriously, but I still think it's time to call time on family reality. One off fly on the wall documentaries about people leading different/challenging lives like they used to do in the 70s and 80s maybe, but not series after series. I appreciate, though, that it needs us, the viewers, to stop wanting to watch families swimming around in goldfish bowls.

Call me radical but I don't think children should appear on any social media or TV programme until they are able to understand, perhaps 16 years old.

@NeverTrustAPoliceman there may be something to be said for that. I would say the UK is quite good when it comes to child actors. Unlike Nickelodeon Kids in America, which has a habit of holding open auditions for pretty looking kids with no clue about the industry, UK child actors tend to have been attending stage schools where they are given more background.

It's a hard industry, though, and though I wanted to do it myself as a child, I am not sure I would want it for a child of mine. However, I still think there is enough of a difference between child actors who get to leave the set and go home and reality show kids whose home becomes a set for however many months in the year..

YouTube family channels are terrible. DD watches some and every time I think about the complete lack of privacy for these kids. They all seem happy now but their parents have completely monetised their childhoods. The kids seem to be having a good time but it's such a risk to their future mental health as adults when they look back and realise how abnormal it was, that strangers saw them grow up and saw them when they were vulnerable. Do they have autonomy, are they ever allowed to have an off day, or is it expected that "today is a working day. If you don't do this script we can't post a video this week, which is how we earn the money to pay the bills etc"? It is too much pressure to put on a child, and they can't give informed consent.

I really dislike supporting them by DD watching the videos, but there is very little content free from moral ambiguity and she has to form her own opinion (the content of the family videos is fine, I just worry about long term effects on the kids participating)

Yes, the US original 'xx kids and counting'. Lots of stuff coming out about the parents now from the girls in particular. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_Kids_and_Counting

@dollybird thank you. Interesting and disturbing about the son molesting young girls.

I think you’re completely right, and some of the social media content is outright cruel and exploitative. I’d even go as far, in some extreme cases, to say abusive.

I think it’s a huge issue, and I’d include people who massively overshare on social media about their kids to a wide audience.

There's a few social media 'influencer' (🤢) families I see that are horrific, the worst for sure is wheelchair rapunzel- the poor baby being posted all over the same platform as she advertises her only fans, never mind all the other drama and addiction they try to cover up with little dances.

There's another family with one white and one black parent, youngest of their dc is very light skinned and they have so many videos doing stupid dances saying how this kid can't be the dads, how it's weird the baby is 'too white'... how will that kid feel when they're older and look back on that? Aside from the obvious exploitation of showing every part of your DCs lives it's like erasing part of their identity.

I'm not as concerned about children on tv because there are rules for their protection- mostly, and I hope now more vigilance- but it's the ones forced onto social media that are truly worrying. I don't know if I'm just cynical, but did anyone else notice a convenient baby announcement just when existing dc we're getting older and less cute for some of the SM mums with books and tours? (Tired and tested and unmumsy mum anyone?).

I think that in a few years time when these children grow up, there will be more rules and regulations around this. Reality TV is still a fairly recent phenomenon, and social media families are even more recent. Social media is still in it's infancy really, and I think that we'll learn more about the impact over the coming decades. I think that when my children are grown, this exploitation will no longer be allowed.

I completely agree. My kid watches one on YouTube and they are AWFUL. The dad clearly only ever plays with the kids if a camera is there to capture it, and there was one moment where the oldest kid didn’t want to do it and the dad literally gave him money to tell him to - great parenting!

the prob with the social media families is that the family income will be so tied ip in producing content that they will ignore the kids wishes if they say they want to stop. That’s why so many mum influencers come and go - it’s all cute joking about a three year old on camera. Not so much when it’s a 13 year old….

I've never watched reality TV.
I keep hearing about Instagram and YouTube "infuencers" who have subscription channels. Why? Who are they and what do they actually do?
Do people pay to watch them?
They must have more money than sense!!

@LakeTiticaca for most of the YouTubers, you “subscribe” so you get the alerts of new content. They make their money through advertising - so if they are getting 500m views (which some of them do), they will get adverts in the middle of their videos and they take a cut of the advertising revenue