Child Genius -- the show

[Gil]

Have you seen this show? There is a US and British version, it seems.

In the US, the kids play for a $100,000 scholarship + trophy. It seems that in Britain they play for just a trophy? (Am I missing something?) I've seen all of the British series (4 episodes a season) and the first season of the US show (8 episodes) and I have seen the first episode of US season 2.

 

I haven't decided yet on whether I will let my sons watch the show. How do you feel about the shows appropriateness for your AL and especially if you have a gifted child? On the one hand I think that my guys will enjoy watching the show since it has kids who are bright and enjoy academics--gives them TV peers/someone "real" that they can watch and relate too. I also think that it might get them interested in some other subjects. On the other hand, I'm not sure whether its a good influence. I think that we might wind up watching the British version together--a few of those kids really persevere and over come. The competition is exactly the sort of thing that I know my eldest would want to participate in.

 

However, the latest episode of Child Genius US has left me disturbed as it seems that the US version is ramping up the drama factor for ratings and splicing together the most "intense" and unflattering parts of the competition that they managed to capture on film. Watching that little girl hide under the table during have a melt down as her parents tried to coax her out was NOT cool with me. Especially with that mom....Geez. And I am definitely what many would consider a "tiger dad", but if my kid is hiding beneath a table, sobbing frantically and in full on meltdown mode, its time to be less tiger and more dad.

 

I'm dissapointed  and wary of US Child Genius Season 2 because I feel that the directors could have and should have done something else besides prominently feature the kids having melt downs during the first week of the show. What do you think of the show (if you've seen it) and do you feel that its worth your kids watching?

 

 

 

 

[Dmmetler]

We got the casting call info for US season 1 several times, both forwarded from various GT groups/programs (most of these made a statement that they were passing it on, but didn't recommend participation) and directly (don't know where they got DD's name and contact info for that one, and if I find out, someone's in trouble), and turned it down. Mostly due to the station it was on. They seem to specialize in exploiting emotional responses for drama, and DD has definite hot buttons where she can easily be exploited.

 

After seeing the first episode, I was glad we did-and decided against allowing DD to watch. I was afraid she'd want to do it, and I see nothing really good coming of it, and a lot of potential damage to her.

[hellojwolford]

I watched the U.S. first season and enjoyed it myself, but I used a TiVO to record it and I watched it later. On a couple of occasions I saw value in showing my son a few clips of children working hard and succeeding or kids answering fun questions that I thought he'd enjoy trying himself--but it is definitely too dramatic for my intense DS to watch without some filtering.

[Gil]

I watched the U.S. first season and enjoyed it myself, but I used a TiVO to record it and I watched it later. On a couple of occasions I saw value in showing my son a few clips of children working hard and succeeding or kids answering fun questions that I thought he'd enjoy trying himself--but it is definitely too dramatic for my intense DS to watch without some filtering.

You should try the British version. There are a couple of episodes that you might really like. In British season 4 there is a girl with really bad nerves and she does a great job of conquering them and giving it her best go. Seeing as how she breaks down at the podium, the inclusion of her breakdown doesn't feel exploitative at all and the people at the competition are encouraging towards her.

 

Really, its a show casing of strong character and how resilient she was to participate.

[Sbeverid]

My son was in the selction process of the 1st season of the US version of Child Genius (he was 8 and is now 9).  I pulled him from consideration becuase of the types of things the producers wanted me to film at home (meltdowns, etc).  Becauase my son met and knew some of the kids on the show we did in fact watch the show and I cringed durng most of it.  He later said although he was angry that I pulled him from the process at first, after seeing the show he was glad that I did. I've not seen season 2.  If it was anything like the 1st seaon (and it sounds like it is) then other than an object lesson of "see, you have it good, you couild have parents like THAT." I don't see any value in having him watch.  The goal of the gifted parent is to see to the emotional AND academic needs of your child.  I can't see forcing the child to experience emotional highs and lows on a national television show where friends and family wil watch and then sit in judgement of my child. 

[Runningmom80]

Really wish WGBH hadn't cancelled Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman. That was the show I was wishing my kids could be on. It was always positive and cooperative and looked like a ton of fun.

Yes! My kids love that show.

 

As far as the OP, I have never seen the show but it sounds like just another run of the mill reality show exploiting kids. Blech.

[Dmmetler]

Masterchef Junior, Project Runway Junior, and many of the food network shows with kids/teens have actually been good for my DD in seeing passionate, talented kids work through a process and overcome, with much less of the exploitation of emotional elements. It helps that one of the most gifted kids she knows IRL is deeply within that world, and she's aware of just how much they're alike emotionally.

 

In general, if parents are largely off screen (usually not even seen until you get down to the last 2), it seems to be a good show. If parents are on screen, it seems to really work on drama. I also suggest the first season or two of almost any show-MJ Jr was awesome the first two seasons, but this season seems to have gotten the kids from central casting and be playing a combination of silly slapstick and emotional drama-my DD had no desire to watch after the first couple of episodes. The Project Runway threads, which had parents present, was pretty awful, but Project Runway Jr. has been quite good this first season.

 

DD also has really liked "King of the Nerds", although she finds it annoying at times.

Edited January 11, 2016 by dmmetler

[HomeAgain]

We love Master Chef Junior.  My AL adores it (though he, himself, has no interest in cooking). Personally, I think it strikes the right balance between competition and nurturing.  The judges all understand that they are just kids underneath it all.

 

I will not put on Child Genius.  I was horrified at the parts I have seen, and it felt like they were exploiting the vulnerabilities of these talented, but childlike, children.  My heart goes out to them.  I watch mine meltdown when he can't figure out how to make a move in chess - he needs his mama, not a television camera in his face.  He is not nearly as gifted as those on the screen but so many of the same traits...I couldn't do that to him.  Television is forever.  He would always be the kid who went full disaster on Child Genius. 

[GeoKitty]

I did watch some of the first season of Child Genius.  But I couldn't stomach it… 

 

Now, King of the Nerds DD and I love!

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

For a fun, fictional alternative, try Malcolm in the Middle.  :-D  

[mathnerd]

Television is forever.  

This is the thought that comes to my mind when I think of this genre of TV shows. I am not sure how the child would feel about his life being out there on youtube when he grows up. People say that revealing too much of your life on Facebook is bad as private information has a way of popping up at unfortunate times (e.g. employer checking you out before an interview etc.). But, putting the personal life of a child on a TV show is a lot worse in my opinion.

 

PS: Never watched this show. I did watch the National Geographic episode on Marc Yu (Born Genius) because my child is a pianist (not as accomplished as Marc Yu), but, I was disturbed by something that I can't even put a finger on. These days, Marc goes to a local gifted school with kids his age.

[Mergath]

I'd never heard of this before today. I just checked out the IMDB message board for the show, and man, are people cruel. I would hate for the kids on this show to see what people say about them online. :(

[Runningmom80]

Yes we love master chef jr too.

 

Child geniuses sounds more along the lines of toddlers in tiaras.

[MEmama]

We liked the first 2 seasons of Master Chef Jr, but the current season has devolved into a drama fest of the worst kind. DS can't stomach how stupid the kids are being portrayed and how little focus there is on actual kitchen skills. Some are downright dangerous and nothing has highlighted any kind of real talent on behalf of the kids. There is a marked difference in both the kids attitudes (overly dramatic and attention seeking, also wanting to get OUT of challenges rather than taking them on) and terminology (referring to the kids as home cooks instead of chefs-- big, big difference, yet totally reflected). There are so few shows that actually highlight intelligent kids that this has been a huge blow.

 

I haven't seen CG but wouldn't be likely to, based on the name. Yuck.

[Korrale]

I am mixed on Child Genius. I binge watched it on Lifetime Network earlier this week.

I think competitions like this have advantages for the children. They can meet peers who they can interact with on a similar level. They also get the chance to know that they aren't always the smartest person around. A rather humbling option for some kids. But.... Once it is out there it is out there. Immortalized as a preteen/child on tv bothers me.

 

Other things I liked were the close relationships that the children have with their parents, in most cases. There are some genuine sweet bonding moments. I loved seeing how the family dynamics were all different and how each family had a different approach. In one case a father was a very involved coach to his daughter. But when she said she wanted to study on her own he respected that and gave her space. You can tell it tormented him.

With another child his father took a more holistic approach and they practiced qigong and martial arts to help his son get into the right mindset. Another family relied heavily on their faith in God.

 

There were some very tender moments when children were under pressure or when they were eliminated and you could see how supportive the families were. However I do wish they didn't film the children crying. Sure they get upset. I just felt there should have been more respect for their privacy at that moment.

 

There was a good show of perserence and hard work. The children were proved packets of information in which to study. I think you could see how much the children wanted this.

I do wish that they spent more time on the competition itself. They edited that part a lot.

 

I don't like what I have seen of the second season. It is much more exploitive. All the children melting down. One girl who buckled under pressure. It was stomach churning. I stopped watching.

 

Oh and I dislike the term child genius.

[Katy]

I never heard of this show before today.  We're all binge watching it together on the website, and talking about hard work, exploitation, and reality tv...

 

We would never let a child be on reality TV.

[kiwik]

I watched a couple of episodes of one of the British seasons.  After week two though the show was moved from 9.30 on a week night until Saturday afternoon.  Even if I had found out before the final I wouldn't have watched it with the kids awake.  It was interesting but not something I would want my kid doing.

[EKS]

Does anyone know for sure whether they give the kids study materials that all the questions come from?  I saw something (unofficial) that said this, but I'm not sure if it is true.  

 

The reason I ask is that it seems to me that the entire thing--with the possible exception of a few of the topics (logic and arithmetic, for example)--is heavily biased toward work ethic (or the work ethic of the parents) and memory, which to me has little to do with genius.

 

I'd be much more impressed if the kids went in there without any studying at all--but then there would be much less drama.

Edited February 10, 2016 by EKS

[Korrale]

They mentioned the study packets on the show a few times. I would love to see what was in those study packets. :)

And I agree. Much less impressive when they are provided with materials to study.

And frankly I think it should not be an elimination type show. I think it should be 10-20 or so kids and the one with the overall combined score after many weeks would be winner.

[Gil]

Does anyone know for sure whether they give the kids study materials that all the questions come from?  I saw something (unofficial) that said this, but I'm not sure if it is true.  

 

The reason I ask is that it seems to me that the entire thing--with the possible exception of a few of the topics (logic and arithmetic, for example)--is heavily biased toward work ethic (or the work ethic of the parents) and memory, which to me has little to do with genius.

 

I'd be much more impressed if the kids went in there without any studying at all--but then there would be much less drama.

Yes, the families are provided with study guides of some type. I don't know if its a guideline or what, but from watching the show its clear that they kids are given something to study from.

 

This is one of the things that makes the show somewhat lame as far as giftedness is concerned--they use IQ as a screening tool for potential contestants just so that they can bill it as Genius vs Genius or The Battle of the Brightest but its essentially just a quiz show. Winning boils down to work ethic + memory + performing appropriately. That is it. Even the math and logic rounds can be practiced for. I'm assuming that the kids are given something to prepare for that round also.

 

 

They mentioned the study packets on the show a few times. I would love to see what was in those study packets. :)

And I agree. Much less impressive when they are provided with materials to study.

And frankly I think it should not be an elimination type show. I think it should be 10-20 or so kids and the one with the overall combined score after many weeks would be winner.

No, gradual elimination is probably best because if it weren't then you'd have 9-19 kids in hysterics simultaneously when they lost out to #1

You'd watch the kids at the back of the pack slowly give up trying all season long and that would not go over well with viewers.

Plus, you'd have to put up with the crazy parents of the lower-performers all.season.long. which wouldn't go over well with the show staff.

 

The current format means that each kid gets to "fresh" each round and that if you're bad at topic K, but put in the work, then you can make up for it in a later round.

 

Am I the only one who is annoyed that the US version is easier than the British version?

 

The mental math that kids are asked to do in Britian could be 817 + 1/2(500) - 437 + 1/4 (100) but in the states is pure addition/subtraction of 2-4 digit numbers of multiplying 1 and 2 digit numbers.

Also, the memorization tasks asked of the British children are more diverse than memorizing a deck of cards. (One season the kids had to memorize the human anatomy, another season they memorized a map of the subway station and were asked fill in the blank questions such as "Which stop comes between Queen Street and HighRoad?" or "If you wanted to go from Grand Park to MainStreet, how many routes could you possibly take?")

 

Also the British season is like 4 episodes long, where US is like 8 or 10. Just drawn out for money and entertainment.

[Dmmetler]

Do they do the dual elimination like Masterchef Jr does? That's one thing I really like about Masterchef Jr, because it means that, yes, a kid is disappointed, but at least he has someone to be disappointed with in the short term.

[Gil]

Do they do the dual elimination like Masterchef Jr does? That's one thing I really like about Masterchef Jr, because it means that, yes, a kid is disappointed, but at least he has someone to be disappointed with in the short term.

No, in the US version the kids are picked off one by one.

 

In the British version the first round or two has multiple kids eliminated--they only take those who scored above a certain threshold.

[Runningmom80]

If any of you belong to the gifted unschooling page on Facebook, the mod just posted an email from one of the contestant's parents. Apparently they weren't aware of how it would be edited, and also the amount of pressure that would be put on the kids. I think you can use that as an excuse if you are in the first season, but going forward, they had to have some idea.

[eternalsummer]

Yes! My kids love that show.

 

As far as the OP, I have never seen the show but it sounds like just another run of the mill reality show exploiting kids. Blech.

 

My daughter (speaking of Fetch) lived for that show last year, watched all the episodes from all the seasons, and wanted to know when the next season was. Major disappointment.