WARNING: Is the Ned Show coming to your school?

[Clarabel22]

If it is then you need to be aware of exactly what it's about, and it's not what it seems

The Ned Show is an American invention that claims to boost children's "academic achievement and character development". The company targets schools and persuades them to let them come in to do a show to the children that involves "Ned" delivering feel good messages while performing lots of tricks using a yo-yo. The kids love it, my son was thrilled by it.

Sounds good? You might not think so when you know what's behind it. The company perform the show for FREE, on condition the school sell the yo-yos to the children for the following week. There a several types they can choose from, ranging from £5 to £10. The school take a cut of the profits. This is nothing but high pressure sales directed at vulnerable children who are unable to see the whole picture. It is a cynical money making exercise at the expense of our children's welfare. I let my kids watch TV, buy them the odd branded t-shirt but this is something altogether more sinister.

After it was performed at my son's school he cried for 3 days running in an attempt to get me to buy him one. I resolutely said NO, until I took him into school the 4th morning and realised that virtually all the kids had one. I then gave in and purchased 2, one for his little brother as well. I was between a rock and a hard place and very unhappy about it. However, I did not want to exclude my child from his peers on this occasion.

I am absolutely disgusted that our school has participated in this scam. The Ned Show is performed solely as a vehicle to sell yo-yos to the children, by introducing a craze into the playground (which the school encouraged by allowing them to be brought into school). In this case it was astoundingly successful. One friend bought her 2 children a £10 yo-yo each, one lost his and was devastated so she bought another. That's £30 she spent on 3 plastic yo-yos!

So, if you get a leaflet from your school letting you know that The Ned Show is coming to town.... think about this and if you don't like it then OBJECT STRONGLY and make it clear you will not accept your children being used like this.

(Oh yes, if you're in Scotland I expect it might be called something else......)

My kids didn't get a yo-yo and were a bit upset, but seriously it blew over in a few days time! very weird thing tbh

It is now 2017 and the NED show is still around. What bothers me the most is the parents do not know the money raised does not go to the school. Our school is small, less than 200 students, and the NED show raised more that $2,000 and parents are surprised when they find it is not a fundraiser for the school. Not my first choice for an assembly.

I'm a teacher and the NED show assembly was brilliant. There is no pressure to buy yoyos from the company but naturally the kids want one when they see the yoyo tricks. They were brilliant with the kids. Best outside company we've had in.

Was just about to say I would imagine it would be called something different up here!!

Luckily our Head has her bullshit detector firmly switched on and is canny enough to realise that NED or whatever is in the business of making money, they might be brilliant with the kids and so on but they are obviously all about the retail sales.

Now if there were a similar company doing tricks with fidget spinners that would explain a LOT.

What's the problem with them wanting some sales? They're a business. There is no obligation to buy which they made clear to the children.

Geez, I don't think it's a big deal if they try to sell you yoyos! They have to make a living some how and this is their business idea. It's 5 or 10 quid, which is not much. And if the school gets a cut, even better. They need money to help improve facilities etc. Never heard of this show, but if they do come, I won't object to spending 5 or 10 quid on a yoyo! And I understand some can not afford this, but you could do what another poster did and spend 99p on a yoyo bought outside of school.

Bumping again,

As this has just hit my DS's school and the going rate is know £5, £8 or £11 for a yo-yo. Seems rather crappy if im honest, the show itself i mean.

I'm a teacher and we had this show at school this week. It was a good show with a good message but tbh is nothing new that we don't already teach- just had a load of yoyo tricks.

I tried to deter my class from buying them. Puts too much pressure on the parents especially as we are in a less affluent area. Didn't work though. The school sold over £2000 worth of yo-yos. All the money goes to the NED show and none to the school.

We had a similar thing with glow-in-the-dark plastic skipping ropes at our DC's school a year or so ago...
The head would be all over the Ned Show.

The 'message' is nothing that couldn't be tackled by a teacher in Circle time. A bit trite.

Because the guy who delivered the show at out school was American, it did cross my mind to wonder whether there was some association with Scientology or something more sinister. I couldn't find anything online, however.

The yoyos are ridiculously expensive so it's obviously just a money-making scheme

Hi! There's a lot of anger in this thread and I figured I'd provide some POV from a kid who was at one of these shows! Yes back many years ago NED came to my small school and put on a show that I remember to this day. I'm nineteen now and fun fact me and my little sister still have our Yo-Yo's! They help a ton with focusing because we have ADHD and autism and are something very simple to do to take your eyes off the computer as to keep eye strain at bay.
So for a Yo-Yo to have lasted eight years in extremely good condition and for the messages that I do still think about fairly often I'd say its worth ten dollars. Thanks for listening!

This has made me so fucking angry. How can the school not have seen this for what it was??? Still going strong in 2021, and parents not informed until after the event.

So CherryBomb281 searched for a 3 year old thread on Mumsnet to post a glowing review? Okay then.

This thread is hilarious. If the most you have to be angry about is a company trying to sell your a kid a £10 yo-yo, considered yourself to have extreme first world problem 😂 I thought this was going to be some kinda religious exploitation or the company trying to sell the kids drugs from the horror expressed.

Its a yo-yo for £10, hardly bank breaking! If your kid breaks it, don’t buy them a new one 🤷🏼‍♀️ A good way of learning you have to look after things..