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Original poster

C4 "Girls and Boys Alone" documentary

94 replies

Podrick · 03/02/2009 16:39

There is a boys house and a girls house with primary age kids left to live without adults...quite a lot of bullying goes on apparently with no intervention...sounds exploitative to me but I will be interested to watch! C4 at 9pm tonight

OP posts:

controlfreakythecontrolfreak · 03/02/2009 21:51

what awful tv. explotative imo and cruel. why would anyone expect a bunch of 8/9/10/11 yo to be able to do all this.... no one would leave these children home alone and expect them to "cope" / take responsibility .... so why should a whole bunch of children be expected to manage. that mum saying to her ds sidney when he was crying about being hungry "well go and cook something" . those parents seem to have completely unrealistic expectations of their children.

Ewe · 03/02/2009 21:52

The older girls are being so bloody nasty, I would be thoroughly ashamed of my daughter behaving like that.

bellabelly · 03/02/2009 21:54

Am finding this awfully hard to watch...especially the older girls who are being quite bitchy towards the younger ones.

controlfreakythecontrolfreak · 03/02/2009 21:57

why did the parents think this would be in their children's interests?? or did they just want to be on tv?? seems to be about "teaching their kids a lesson / to be grateful". ffs.

MarlaSinger · 03/02/2009 21:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

controlfreakythecontrolfreak · 03/02/2009 21:59

and making them stay there when they hate it??

tblondecatburgler · 03/02/2009 22:00

Human physiology dictates that we nurture and look after our infants till the age they are capable to look after themselves as it is the same with nature - the mother will keep her young with her till they are able to go out on their own to cope with the world! This experiment is not normal and I think Channel 4 is making "money" from this. Anyone who has ever read "Lord of the Flies" - there is no control - it makes the mothers in a bad light and the kids - every child has a different stage of development - well done Channel 4....say no more..

nannynick · 03/02/2009 22:03

So CH4 has just shown children smoking... is CH4 seriously wanting their broadcast license terminated! It's after 9pm but even so, surely the CH4 executives could have cut that part out.

controlfreakythecontrolfreak · 03/02/2009 22:04

i certainly missed that bit! was that in the trailer for next week?

bellabelly · 03/02/2009 22:06

Yes, right at the end.

PadDad · 03/02/2009 22:07

Seems to me there's a fair bit of control. You see camera crew questioning, and even restraining the boys.

For any parents who are concerned that their kids have no freedom like we did as kids, but are still not prepared to risk letting them run free,

I can see why this set-up might strike them as a half-way measure.

Anyway, they are 'helicoptering' with cameras and audio at all times anyway.

Pinkchampagne · 03/02/2009 22:07

Yes it was the trailer for next weeks episode. I thought the bullying from some of the girls was pretty shocking.

CrackerNut · 03/02/2009 22:08

I think it should have only been age 10 and over.

I have a dd of 11 who would have been fine to take part in something like that, but then dd2 who is 9 isn't emotionally ready to cope with such a big situation all alone.

I felt really sorry for Sid who reminded me of my ds (6). I am guilty of doing too much for my ds though tbh.

CrackerNut · 03/02/2009 22:09

They looked like joke cigarettes, but i could be mistaken.

bluebread · 03/02/2009 22:10

Grrrrr . This programme has made me very . Why did those parents think it was in any way right to put their children through that? Why did they think that the experience would teach their children the 'life skills' which they clearly hadn't taught them at home? Some of the children behaved appallingly, but whose fault is that?

frogwatcher · 03/02/2009 22:14

I found this really disturbing but was expecting to be fine about it. Do you think this is representative of children in general, or a certain type of child wanting to go on tv. The lack of care shown by the two older girls was shocking - and to an 8 year old!! She seemed so young. I really felt for them - cant see what good it will do them really. If I was the parent of the older girls I would be ashamed ashamed ashamed. I know girls are bitchy and maybe all our girls will turn out like that - but in that case it is wrong of channel 4 to do the experiment as they need controlling on a daily basis to keep the nastiness in check. Do all children of that age talk about killing each other, hands round throats, like to scare younger kids with really quite nasty stuff. If so, I dread the early teenage years more than I did.

tblondecatburgler · 03/02/2009 22:22

I think you will find it is the parents. It would have been packaged in an attractive package - "be at home without mum for the whole 2 weeks - no rules" - a child's paradise or so we thought. The age between an 8 year old and a 11 yr old does not seem much but psychologically it is a very wide gap.

nannynick · 03/02/2009 22:30

A quick scan of the Broadcasting Code seems to me to indicate that the smoking (real or joke) isn't against the code - smoking "must not be condoned, encouraged or glamorised in other programmes likely to be widely seen or heard by under-eighteens unless there is editorial justification." - expect CH4 will claim that the programme isn't intended to be widely seen by under-eighteens.

"1.27 People under eighteen must not be caused unnecessary distress or anxiety by their involvement in programmes or by the broadcast of those programmes."
Hmm, were any of those children caused unnecessary distress? I think they may have pushed the limit on that a bit... some of the children were showing signs of distress.

CherryChoc · 03/02/2009 22:32

Watching now on C4+1 at the mum whose DD was being bullied saying "It's just what girls do"

tiredandgrumpy · 03/02/2009 22:39

Poor Sid (have I remembered his name right?). He got it spot on when he refused to talk to his mum and claimed she wasn't listening to him. She wasn't. Seemed far more interested in the fame of having a child on the show than in the welfare of her own son. Will not be watching next week.

What were the selection criteria C4 had for these kids? Dysfunctional kids to make it seem a more interesting programme? Throw in some little ones and kids who had been bullied just to make for more eventful filming?

CherryChoc · 03/02/2009 22:54

Sid's mum was awful!

CherryChoc · 03/02/2009 23:03

Oh well at least she did take him out, I was at the ones who wouldn't - but ffs what was she on about "We have spoiled them, we do everything for them, women don't want a husband who does nothing"

They are NINE ffs!

Also those cigarettes were definitely joke ones.

Merrylegs · 03/02/2009 23:15

at Sid's mum - thinking chucking him in a house with no adults would teach him 'lifeskills'.

If he can't boil a kettle at home, he's not suddenly going to learn how in a chaotic environment.

Why not take responsibility and teach these kids life skills in the security and safety of their own homes, rather than putting them through some spurious 'experiment'.

At least even Sid's mum realized that something about this whole thing wasn't right and rescued poor Sid - who may not have been able to make a pot noodle, but was mature enough to know his own mind and articulate enough to express his views.

How lazy and self centered of the parents and exploitative of Channel 4.

This isn't 'education' in any sense. It's sensational TV dressed up as a social experiment.

jasper · 03/02/2009 23:49

speechless.

nasty nasty two older girls.

Metatron · 03/02/2009 23:59

interesting stuff.

The girls can cook, sort out beds, do washing and even clean the bin. The boys can do none of these things.

The mums swoop in and clean the place up, and do washing while the dads play outside with the boys.

hmmm, wonder why the boys are incapable.I thought sids mum had it spot on when she realised that the parents are enabling the incapacity of the kids.

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