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___WEDNESDAY___CH 4___UPDATE___"CHILD GENIUS"___UPDATE___CH 4___

551 replies

RTKangaMummy · 13/04/2008 21:44

WEDNESDAY

CHANNEL 4

AN UPDATE ON THE CHILDREN FROM LAST YEAR

x x x

Documentary
Child Genius Wednesday 16 April
9:00pm - 10:00pm
Channel 4
1/2
The subtitle of this series about megabrained children is "young and gifted", but by the end you half-wonder if it should be "young and cursed". We're catching up with kids we met in the last series - chess champ Peter (11), who wears a "genius in training" T-shirt, Adam (eight), who dissects rats in the kitchen, and Mikhail (five), who as Britain's youngest Mensa member has appeared on Oprah and Countdown. We also meet Georgia, who toppled Mikhail as Britain's youngest Mensa member. At two, she was measured with an IQ of 152 - impressive given that, being a toddler, she fell asleep halfway through the test. Her mother notes that "a lot of the pictures we take of Georgia have this white light around her . . ." That's the thing: inevitably, parents become caught up in making their gifted children into mini-celebrities, especially when TV crews get involved. It makes for fascinating TV; whether it's great for the pressure-cooker kids is another matter.

x x x

OP posts:
DirtySexyMummy · 23/04/2008 21:32

Yeah, they will never really make friends will they? I mean, normal children of 13 would not want to be friends with kids like that. Its a shame.

coppertop · 23/04/2008 21:33

Aimee is bratty but I can't help feeling a bit sorry for her. She's doing way too much IMHO. It might just be the editing but her mum does always seem to hover all the time. All that listening at the doors would drive me mad.

avenanap · 23/04/2008 21:34

She sounds like another pushed out sibling. I bet they'll IQ her in the next half.

I think Michael's parents are the problem. He comes across as pompous but it's due to the language that they use at home. It's a very studious household, I expect it's been drilled into him from an early age whereas Dante's household is more laid back, hence the playstation and lack of educational stuff. To me, he's more gifted as he does not come across as being spoon fed information from his parents and he's not made to sit and learn.

hippipotami · 23/04/2008 21:35

Yes, I agree avenanap.

DirtySexyMummy · 23/04/2008 21:35

Agree as well.

Kathyis6incheshigh · 23/04/2008 21:36

I'd love to see these kids with their friends and hear what they think of them.
(They do have friends don't they? )

avenanap · 23/04/2008 21:37

Ohh, thanks Brain scan?? He needs people to see things from his perspective. It's the only way they will understand what's going on in his head.

ellingwoman · 23/04/2008 21:38

Rofl! 'Sorry what did you say?'

avenanap · 23/04/2008 21:40

Why are there no gifted children from council estates and from a single parent family in this programme? Is gifted confined to the middle classes do you think? No.

DirtySexyMummy · 23/04/2008 21:40

Tobias Druitt..

Whats wrong with Mike Smith or something?

Ponceeeey..

ellingwoman · 23/04/2008 21:41

They've got more sense than appear on a programme like this

expatinscotland · 23/04/2008 21:41

I don't know, I kind of like Michael's family.

They don't seem very uptight - look at the state of that house and that garden!

I think it's more to do with that she's an academic.

DirtySexyMummy · 23/04/2008 21:41

God Hermione looks bored..

expatinscotland · 23/04/2008 21:41

It's sci-fi. You need a name like that to go with it.

I had a very, erm, interesting psuedonim. I wrote romance and you needed the name to go with it.

expatinscotland · 23/04/2008 21:42

Dante's got some issues.

ellingwoman · 23/04/2008 21:42

Cringeworthy book-signing. Poor boy. Imagine having to go through that at 13

expatinscotland · 23/04/2008 21:43

it's hard at ANY age.

i think he handled it well.

like their chickens.

DirtySexyMummy · 23/04/2008 21:45

You don't need a stupid sci-fi-ish name, its poncey to do so IMO.

Douglas Adams? George Orwell? Tracey Hickman? Arthur C Clark? H G Wells? C S Lewis?

All non-poncey.

expatinscotland · 23/04/2008 21:46

that was ages ago.

believe it or not, some publishers and/or editors and even agents erm, ask you to change your name because they think yours won't sell as well.

it's extremely common, particularly in certain genres.

i had one and i'm not a ponce.

avenanap · 23/04/2008 21:47

I bet his mum picked it. I don't think he really had much say.

DirtySexyMummy · 23/04/2008 21:47

LMAO @ two 13yo boys, who have gone to Paris together, and 'arranged a series of literary tours'.

Most 13yo boys would rather eat their own hands than do that.

Kathyis6incheshigh · 23/04/2008 21:48

Aw, Michael and Dante have made friends. That's great.
I always think surely the best thing if you had gifted children would be to make sure they mixed with children of a range of abilities because that is what life is like, but also to make sure they had friends like them so they knew they weren't weird.

avenanap · 23/04/2008 21:54

Why's no one helping her write the book. Mum helped micheal! Poor child.

DirtySexyMummy · 23/04/2008 21:55

Fredigar?

Where does this child get names from?!

expatinscotland · 23/04/2008 21:55

they may very well have edited that.

he seems a very normal boy.

it doesn't seem an unnecessarily abnormal home.

in fact, i'd venture to guess the mother is quite the typical MNer.