Child of our Time, tonight, BBC1, 9pm

[OldieMum]

For anyone who hasn't seen this before - it's a fascinating, long-term study of a group of children born around 2000 being done by a team working with Prof. Robert Winston. This is the latest instalment, focussing on how children first become aware of social distinctions like class and race and also looking at their first day at school.

I noticed that they did separate the pictures by sex - so girls were only shown pics of girls and vice versa. Also all the pics showed children smiling to cut down an effect of different expressions.

Mmm I noticed that too. I got 4 pics from child model sites, so they were all similar head and sholders shots, smiling, and all female.

But didn't one of the asian boys during that experiment say something along the lines (when asked which child would be the most intelligent/well behaved or something)of 'him, because he has a white face'.
Also, it's not only predominantly white areas that may have issues. At the beggining of that programme, they showed a clip of a little black girl, saying she did not like or would not play with the girl in the picture because she was white.

I (Black/British) live in a predominantly white area with a white DH, and a mixed race son who goes to a predominantly white nursery and he plays with all children....but that may be because his mum and dad's social circle (and family circle) are very mixed.

I thought the researcher in teh house test was pointing the kids by her body language and responses. The faces one would have shocked me if I had just fnishe dreading areport on teh negative reinforcemnts chidlren receive at nursrey schools often unthought about be staff - the exampole I liked was an asian girl was pretending to amke a cup of tea in pan when teh worker said wouldn't a tea pot be better - at hom eteh girl saw her mum making Punjabi tea in a pan

reminder for early afternoon viewers

early evening reminder

I am so fed up as it's on at the same time as Celebrity

Reminder 9pm BBC1

In 10 mins

Thanks Kanga. Just going to sort out a video so I can tape it. Dh won't budge on celebrity Hates child of our time.

on now BBC1

I've been looking forward to this all day... and my bloody NTL is out... DAMN IT!

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yeah Pamina but I did sort think you'd do anything if you had triplets. Also amused at them all getting into the baby seats to settle down for bed.

Did you really think that it was showing the little boy using the x-box as a positive thing. The fact that he wouldn't go to bed until 10 pm put me right off that one. I did wonder if his mother was still a bit depressed - the bit where she was sat around in her pjs complaining that the Dad had taken him off fishing and how she'd like to be able to just go off like that and got a bit teary.

with you on the dummy thing pamina!
Also think the xbiox thing could be useful if it was a bit more "controlled". God knows how they ever think that boy would go to sleep after doing that for hours!

the little boy with diabetes had me in absolute floods of tears (& again this morning when i talked to my mum about it). though by the end they all seemed to be coping really well. not at all tempted to get an x-box....

But what parent in their right mind would let a four year old play a 15-rated game, let alone computer games at all. Did feel sad about the little boy with diabetes - glad his dad dealt with his needle phobia to help out with him. Looking forward to next week's programme about dads!

bozza - that mother had had severe pnd earlier in her son's life - I remember in some of the first prgrammes there were some really distressing scenes where she couldn't get up and left the wee boy (didn't pick up his name for some reason) in his cot for hours shouting for her.

I wondered about those experiments with the x-box - they very much concentrated on the skills he was gaining from it rather than whether those images (and indeed the whole premise of the game) were understood by the child and whether that agression might be displayed in other areas. My son (same age as COOT kids which is why I love it!) goes on the computer sometimes but wouldn't dream of letting him play a game with a 15 rating (or just before bed either).

I found the parts about the boy with diabetes really moving - his family seemed great. My DP has diabetes and I can see how very hard it would be to manage it in such a small child.

I thought Jamie {was that right---diabetic boy}

story was so sad and then happy

I thought oh no the dad is going to leave because of the needles but also because of the fact that Jamie? didn't have the energy etc at first to play football

I was so pleased that he came home and everyone got used to it and coped really well.

Am so pleased for them all

I would not let a 4/5 year old play 15+ games but I would also not let our 9+ year old play them either. DS is not very interested in playstaion anyway.

But I dont know anything about depression so cant comment on that and the effect on ethans mum

I did wonder about the messages that the programme was sending re computer games i.e. they're positively beneficial in lots of ways. Surely, like most things, it comes down to "everything in moderation" (although there's no way a child of mine is going to play Halo or Grand Theft Auto - I was very having never seen them before).

Also loved the little girl on the farm - what a great childhood .

I am sure that "grand theft auto" is an 18

I felt for ethans mum coping with depression, but felt that she wanted to keep him too lcose to her, hence the x-box. i wasnt too good at understanding her accent, but was she saying that being by the water was unsafe?

i missed the 1st bit about the boy with diabetes as dd1 had asthma attack at that point, but i felt he was so good with testing and injections at the end.

I was a bit disturbed that the triplets' routine had changed so little since they were babies - dummies, going to sleep in front of tv in their baby seats etc - but was amazed at how well Mabel did the interactive story.

It is interesting to see how they all overcome their individual hurdles , such as illness, and the impact it has on their lives. Wasn't keen on the experiment to see how affected they were by either soaps, violent computer games and so on. Not sure it proved much in the end and there is a world of difference between playing aggresive pc games designed for 15+ and software appropriate for their age which I didn't feel was adequately investigated.