Child genius on tonight

[Emochild]

Change of quiz master this year

Hopefully the parents are a bit more media savy this time round

That's "genius" for you. Only certain types of intelligence count.

If they measured emotional intelligence.... Well put it this way I'm not sure we'd see many of the same kids!

Every time Christopher got an answer wrong, they showed the mum looking at Simon with a worried look on her face.

Uh oh Simon is going to blow a gasket :(

Simon seems mentally unwell

Is there a more smug self congratulatory organisation then Mensa?

Yes they don't seem to have the emotional intelligence to cope with losing!

That's called a 'life lesson', kids!

Simon will be alright he's planning his focus on his other son...

This seems like an educational version of Munchausens by Proxy. Otherwise known as living out your own thwarted ambitions through your kids...

No there isn't Pan, which is why I'm glad that instead of throwing their hats in the air and proclaiming me a genius (which I'm not), my parents gave me this ----> sort of look instead.

Ohmigod, Christopher's poor brother is going to be the next little lamb to the slaughter. It's abuse. No other word for it imo. Their father needs help.

songbird

Was that the series with the family that celebrated the 11+ as though it was a birthday, but at the same time refused to have her children's IQ measured incase it wasn't as high as they thought it was ?

Yes! That's them!

IIRC there were later revelations about them that the extended family had had them reported on the missing persons list some years previously and other weirdness.

The children would be early 20's now.

The 11+ family, I'd forgotten about them! The mother iirc had at least one older daughter who she was nc with. The daughter came on here and talked about the family. Wonder if the thread is lurking in the archives somewhere?

I thought Mog was a bit of a sweetheart

Mog is 12 years old, what a vile comment to say about him learning some humility. He is a child who clearly doesn't have the emotional intelligence to match his intellect, you know, being 12.

I really liked him and wanted him to win.

Quite clear Christopher is relieved to be out. When his vile dad asked him why he was crying I thought "because you have spent 3 years drumming this shit in to him only for him to 'fail' so he's probably scared of your reaction."

Those siblings seem quite um, I don't want to say awful but can't think of another word. I think their parents should do something about their extreme competitiveness, not laugh about it. I'd hate to live in a house with children who were always arguing over who was better.

I'm sorry to see Mog go, what a sweet clever boy he is.

The siblings should never have been allowed to enter a competition against one another. Really wtf. What lunatic parent would bring about such unhappiness/glory for her kids?

I was glad for Christopher that the cameras were there, even his arsehole of a father to realise that castigating your son for missing out on a place in the final would make him look like a monster. I suspect if there hasn't been a film crew around he'd have got a tongue lashing.

The more I watch of it, the more problematic I find i and the actual quiz element is secondary to the 'lets all gasp at the nightmare pushy parents' schtick and in some cases cruel treatment is offered up for entertainment.

I was aghast when Simon smirked at Mog's disastrous round. A very unpleasant man.

Those sibling contestants though. The mum said she knows the daughter feels left out and undermined - why isn't she and the dad doing something about it - they could do things together without the boys for example.

Loved Mog - he reminded me of Mani (sic?) from Modern Family with the coffee drinking and the relaxing baths etc. His parents really made me laugh too - they seemed so bemused by him but very loving and happy to let him get on with things, which makes a nice change.

I am watching the US version at the same time, on some random Sky channel - it is very confusing trying to remember which children are on which (no MENSA-level intelligence here sadly).

But the US parents are the same mix of the relatively relaxed and the ultra-competitive, as you would expect I suppose. With a Christian family thrown in for a bit of Creationism/New Earth fun. Worth a watch - you can get it on t'interweb too.

One of dds friends got down to the final few a couple of years ago. Nice girl. Used to have a few social issues but outgrew them & is the only friend to have bothered to keep in toUch with dd when dd chsnges schools. Ds now goes to the same school.

She was given a flyer for the show & school & decided to enter herself. Her parents were very wary but luckily apart from a few nasty comments on her appearance which passed her by as she doesn't use social media they were portayed ok on the show.

She's a very very clever girl but has hobbies & friends & stuff unlike some of the kids you see on there.

Mog is 12 years old, what a vile comment to say about him learning some humility. He is a child who clearly doesn't have the emotional intelligence to match his intellect, you know, being 12.

FFS, calm down, yes he is 12, old enough to know that gloating over his fellow contestants is seriously poor form. If I carried on like that in such a manner at his age my parents would have bollocked me. In fact they did once, I recall winning a mini rugby competition and mocking the losing team after the final whistle, i.e. Showing zero humility, I was 11 at the time and my embarrassed father on the touch line pointed out that I was being bang out of order and told me to apologise. I did.

What I find astonishing is that Mogs parents let this behaviour go unchecked. He is more then old enough to know better yet learning such basic manners does not seem to have room in his busy revision schedule. I took no joy in him getting upset over his poor scoring round but maybe he would have learned a valuable lesson that it's a bit shit to Lord it over those who have not performed as well as well you.

When did he gloat over others? I must have missed those bits. I just saw him getting excited over his own achievements which was a bit boastful maybe, but not lording it over anyone.

What I find astonishing is that Mogs parents let this behaviour go unchecked. He is more then old enough to know better yet learning such basic manners does not seem to have room in his busy revision schedule. I took no joy in him getting upset over his poor scoring round but maybe he would have learned a valuable lesson that it's a bit shit to Lord it over those who have not performed as well as well you

Exactly this. Same goes for Thomas last year.

I wonder whether Christopher's dad is as bad as he seems, to be fair. He says silly stuff, but Christopher seems like a smiley happy kid, and not scared of his reaction - and at the end, they all seemed genuinely affectionate and OK with it. The mother does seem like a bit of an afterthought in the family, though.

Interesting there's another brother-sister pair. I felt sorry for that girl and glad she did well.