After a documentary.......

[3andnomore]

how do you feel?
No honest...my ms and sort of I took part in a documentary and I musat say it was the weirdest thing I have ever done....(btw. met some other mumsnetter5s, too, lol)but I feel all muddled up! MY son, now home is his ild self again, thank god, but I still feel weird! I suppose ity's tyhe worry how the foootage wil be used and edited, and well everything else, all those thaughts...did I damage my child or did I do him a favour to experience what he did, ec....has anyone else done this, and how did you feel doing it and afterwards?

I've never participated in one.

depends on the context of the programme tbh
Whethr it's serious/lighthearted or emotionally devastating
And which channel it's being shown on
If it's Ch5 I'd worry tbh Ch4 or BBC I'd be fine with, ITV maybe...

It's gonna be shown on BBC 3 and it is made by Love Production!
The basic "storyline" is, that teenage couples that feel ready for the adult worls are being challenged...own house, housekeeping, jobs, pretend pg, Baby, Toddler and so on....anyway my ms was a Toddler, send into the house of a teenage couple (they did have a nanny with them at all times to make sure the Tot was safe) !
Anyway, I send ms in because I knew he would be ok, whereas ys would have been devastated...so, I didn't do it just because I wanted it and for my own sakes, the whole expeerience was seriously weird, and stressful as much as I also did enjoy it at parts
I found it coiol to being able to observe my ms with others and also saw some of his tricks that weren't as obvious to me, as they became me seeing them on cctv, lol!
I suppose I just am worried about how we are portryed, etc....sigh!

that sounds like a pretty interesting social experiment
How old was your ms when you did it?

ms?

middle son I'm thinking?

I've heard about that one - I'm from the other side of the fence so to speak, as work in tv.

To be honest, I think you and your family will be fine - if they are going to set anyone up it will be the teenage couples, so I doubt you have much to worry about.

A few people might wonder about how the kids fared - but it sounds as though you weren't apart for long, and it was all well thought through, so I doubt tehre would be much of a fuss about any of that.

Piffle, ms is 4 in November, and it was filmed over the last weekend.
twocatsonthebed....the TV peeps did say, that they wouldn't want to portray us bad or anything...but well....I think one still worries, lol, if you know what I mean...am glad that I never signed a contract though, well, was never asked too, but some were asked to sign one and in that contract it stated that the parent has no influence on how the image and voice of their child is used, etc....which supposedly is standard procedure, but would have felt like signing away your soul, lol!
And no, we weren't apart for long, indeed, I saw my son twice whilest he was with his teen couple, as I was unhappy about something and talked to them about it, my ms seemed to really have taken it all in his stride as he was happy enough for me to walk away again, which made it so much easier!
Must admit I was lots at the location and kept my eye on the CCTV monitor, lol!
Well....I suppose I just have to wait and see and hope for the best!

Hmm, very poor if they didn't make you sign a contract - they shouldn't be allowed to broadcast it if anyone involved hasn't signed (!). They may yet come back to you on that one...

But I wouldn't worry too much about the contract - all tv contracts are written by lawyers who are always thinking about the worst case scenario and so read like you are signing your soul away for eternity (it used to be part of my job to explain tv contracts to people...). Like I said, it sounds well enough run and I can't see any reason why they'd want to make your son look bad. Do let us know when it's on.

I shall do! And we had been wondering why some did have to sign a contract whereas others haven't....btw...would we as parents be allowed to see the bits involving us before they are broadcasted? Just wondering, as I really don't want any surprises, lol!

It's pretty unusual, I'm afraid, to let people see stuff in advance of transmission, and quite often the channel don't let you give out tapes (the programme is their copyright, you see)).

Oh right, thanks it really helps to talk to someone on the other side, not involved in the project, iykwim...because of those involved I jsut expect that they are, in the end, out to make good TV at all costs, lol...ykwim!
Anyways, finally starting to feel more normal now....staying at Hotels etc...always unsettles me and it takes me time to normalise afterwards, and with having Kids there aswell, it doesn't make it any easier!
It was quite funny, btw, because, me being me, I asked where people found out about this documentary, and one fo the Kids mother taing part was a mnetter, and one of the standby Kids mums also was a mumsnetter
Personally I was not a member here at the time I foudn out about it, I found it over another website!

Sounds like a really interesting programme. Do you know when it will be on?

i can often get dvds of things in advance because of my job so if you warn me a couple of weeks before it's on i should be able to get it for you. BBC3 is pretty disorganised, though, with preview copies.

lol BBC 3 disorganisaed, never, lmao...no, thye were really nice, just not very kid orientised organised, ll!
I think it weill b shown in January, but shal let you konw the date, once I know!