Child genius on tonight

[Emochild]

Change of quiz master this year

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

Emo probably taking notes so that when he enters Christopher's younger brother, he is better prepared :(

i'm glad for Georgia's sake that Stephen isn't in the final. The dynamics are precarious enough without the possibility that he win it. He wouldn't have been able to not ram his victory down her throat and the relationship would probably suffer even more.

Christopher's Dad has a real issue with not being able to PROVE he was the CLEVEREST CHILD as a kid doesn't he? Let it go.

Again, every year to start with they focus on really unreasonable parents and not well rounded/unusual/quirky/braggy children who are knocked out and don't take it well and in the final you have two reasonably well adjusted intelligent children (usually girls) there by choice, who have hardly featured.

Who else has watched the US version ?

Ryan's parents are horrifying and a potential case for Social Services IMO, but children in well off families suffering emotional abuse rarely get intervention.

Interesting how both finalists' mums talked about themselves in their final comments!

I was really rooting for Saffy as the end, thought the parents were equally obnoxious and pushy but Saffy seemed the more down to earth of the kids.
They both did great.

Don't understand why Stephen has been allowed to harm his sisters self esteem quite so much. He said some really nasty stuff.

I was rooting for Saffy too. Yes, its interesting that the majority of the parents talking about 'we' rather than 'them' (as in their child). And couldn't agree more than Stephen and Georgia's parents needed to have discouraged such competitiveness. Poor Georgia's mega intelligence appears to be overshadowed by self esteem issues after all her brother's comments. Very sad.

Don't understand why Stephen has been allowed to harm his sisters self esteem quite so much. He said some really nasty stuff.

I kept hoping that one of their parents would step in and say 'oi, stop being so horrible to your sister.'

I was rooting for Saffy too, because Rhea was giving her such evil looks. But there wasn't much in it. Great girls, but hated the way their brilliance was being used by both mothers to justify their sahm decisions.

Yes, all that SAHM stuff was dreadful. If the only way you can justify giving up your career to stay home with your children is to work them like dogs to win a glorified memory test, you should really get back to the office. Really sad how the kids' achievements were twisted to be all about the mums.

Saffy was adorable though, and so sweet trying to comfort Georgia, whose parents seriously need to reassess their parenting.

I thought there was a certain irony with the specialist subjects some of them had chosen - Florence Nightingale, Victorian engineers - essentially very clever but very practical people who put there intelligence to practical use to make life better, I think they would not see the point of the child genius competition and wonder why such supposedly intelligent people where doing wasting their time with memorising spellings and railway maps rather than doing something practical.

Enough going in with some of those parents to keep a village of therapists occupied for years. And in a few years these poor children will be next in the queue for help with the psychological effects of all that conditional approval, missed childhoods and intense pressure and stress. I think this programme should be banned as it just encouages this abuse.

To be fair to Christopher's Dad, they filmed this over around four days, and there was probably an expectation that parents would stay to the end otherwise all the empty seats would have looked bad.

I was slightly at the way Rhea kept looking towards her side at Saffy. Almost as though she was trying to throw her off. If looks could kill and all that...

This was almost unbearable. I was rooting for Saffy too behind my fingers. It was sweet her comforting Georgia. But the mothers...omfg....becoming sahm's JUST to involve themselves in their child's "development" .

I could hardly bear to listen to the "sacrifices" these mothers had made in giving up their careers. Ffs ALL mothers make sacrifices for their kids.....

Horrible, obnoxious people. Poor kids. This has to be a form of abuse, surely? getting carried away a bit now.

Btw what happened to Mog??

Both mothers were as bad as each other. Saffy was sweet though. Bless her when she was trying to make Georgia feel better. Rhea was definitely more steely which is not necessarily a good quality. She'll go far though.

Stephen and Georgia's parents need to take a look at themselves. What a seriously dysfunctional family.

With regard to Christopher's Dad, I think all the children (and so presumably their parents) stayed for the final. There was a picture of them all together at the end (including Mog, although he was obscured slightly, by the trophy I think).

I am sure there is some careful editing to make the parents look worse than they are but still, some of them (including Rhea's and Saffy's parents) didn't seem like they needed a lot of editing. Also, the siblings' parents were arguably the worst - they seemed cool and a bit bemused by it all at first glance but appeared to be making no proper effort to address their children's, and particularly Stephen's, competitiveness other than vaguely hoping neither would get through.

the parents should not be shown just the children. Its too much about them.

The final was unfair, they both should have been asked the same s[elling just a case of one pressing the button first im sure. Hardly fair. Agree about the staring to someone should have said something and told her to stop looking at the other girl.

Woman with blue hair weird! Children awful.

mog got knocked out in the penultimate round cos it turned out he couldn't spell. Zero points and all that.
Anyone tell me, who does he remind me of? Female funny lady, Sue something? (Perkins?)Has many of the same mannerisms.
Loathed that stuttering dickhead dad.wonder if they ever watch themselves on catch-up and realise just how bad their pushy behaviours are. [shock
Saffy is really lovely.

Surely they are given a load of statistics to memorise? What normal child knows about the subject matters they were asked (bar their own choice category)?

I'm not keen on children like that tbh. Get out and bloody play with some toys or throw stuff around the garden fgs.

Was very at Rhea's mum giving up a good career as a GP and obstetrician to push help her children. What is she going to do when they are older? Parents really should live through their children and children shouldn't be doing 5 extra hours of work a day.

shouldn't live

I did wonder about the logic of Rhea's mum. She's given up a good career she presumably worked bloody hard for to bring up her child to get the same medical qualification. If Rhea has children, is she supposed to give up everything she's worked for to continue the cycle?

I don't think she's thought it through that far Judy. She's a very poor role model in my opinion.

Surely they are given a load of statistics to memorise? What normal child knows about the subject matters they were asked (bar their own choice category)?

Good point, that's why 'child genius' is a complete misnomer.Lots of it is just rote learning. It should really be called 'Britain's most extensively hothoused child'.