Kid Nation
 

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The premise is interestingly frightening.

It's been all over the news regarding child abuse allegations. The parents signed waivers for liability and everyone's being media coached to say things like "we sign waivers when we go to Disneyland."

If I remember it exists, I'll watch it. This media hoopla better be worth something.

I just wouldn't give my kids the okay to do a show like this.

There are reasons why we have age limits for voting, being an elected official, driving, drinking, etc. Kids are not mature enough to make these kinds of decisions. I think the show is going to be stupid.

Also, I'm sure it's going to be 75% (at least) run/scripted/guided by the producers.

After reading the Wiki page, I think I'm with the skeptics...there were a lot of kids that got physically hurt, and I'm sure there's more with psychological damage. Stupid, stupid.

who had this dumba** idea filmed and put on tv?? while the premise is an interesting one, kids in that age range just dont have the common sense to complete that task. its not their faults, either. they just arent mentally equipped for that! my god, if grown people cry on ANTM/survivor/the biggest loser/etc, you can just imagine the atmosphere that was on that set :(... and you just know some of those parents told their kids to suck it up and deal with it...

I'm really interested in this and I hope it's good.

me too. i'm intrigued. i hope i remember to watch.

this is exactly how i feel.

the commercials don't make it look "fun" or "enlightening"... which in a perverse way makes me WANT to watch it.

from the commercials i saw: i think they showed the black boy being punished (or accused) of stealing? they also show kids taking a vote on whether or not to kill the chickens... i think one kid volunteers to do it because he's from a farm or something.

weird.

One girl sprained her arm and another was burnt (apparently mildly) while cooking. Those could easily have happened at home. Apparently the bleach mixture got confused with a soda and the only reason more than one kid drank it is because the first one thought it tasted weird after taking a sip and asked the other kids around him to taste it. I don't see any reports of them chugging the stuff, simply a whoops moment that could have happened any time someone was careless with cleaning products, and they immediately took care of the situation.

I'm skeptical, but at the same time, they made them sign the waiver to cover their asses in advance. Not because they were planning on the kids dying, or giving each other STDs, but because there was some small statistical chance of bad things occurring. It's not comparable to the waivers at Disneyland or whatever, but plenty of places and situations have waivers that essentially demand that you accept any potential consequences and don't sue. (Plus due to the non-disclosure no one can really talk about it anyway)

I haven't seen commercials myself (who watches CBS anyway?) I'll probably catch the show online or something.

has anyone else read "Lord of the Flies"?

this reminds me of that

what she said @ the bolded. i mean, hell, if ppl are in a tiff over a sprain or getting burned by cooking (how old are the kids - preteen?), then you can come to the hood and do the same show, no problem.

ok, that's narrow-minded. but what im saying is: why is it an issue of "OMG kids, taking care of themselves in their own society? NO!!" umm, i was taking care of house and home at that age and i damn sure didnt sign any waivers nor was i getting $$/airtime for it.

asfor the "injuries," what happened to walking it off? every injury doesnt need a doctor's opinion, an Rx and a lawyer waiting in the wings. geez. get your azz up and KIM.

That's the point of the show.

Many parents don't allow children under a certain age to operate cooking equipment unless they are being closely supervised by an adult.

That really isn't a good way of approaching this general topic. My siblings and I weren't allowed to take care of house and home when we were children. That's what adults are for and since the laws for children have changed from the days that kids worked in factories, it isn't outlandish to not have children behaving like "short adults." And, no, I'm not from the "hood" so I guess people from the "hood" have a better grasp of the realness than nonhood people do. :) Not that there's a right or wrong but we have to acknowledge that children aren't all equipped to take care of themselves.

There are a lot of things that parents allow their children to do on their own ONLY because the parents don't have the time or money to closely monitor. So we have child laws for reason that prohibit children of a certain age from being at home for long periods of time alone. That doesn't stop kids of certain ages from being home alone (in the "hood" and in other environments where parents are working or whatever else). But, these laws exist for a reason.

Now, the show itself is monitored by adults I guess so it's not as extreme as an 8 yr old cooking dinner at home and hurting herself/himself or burning down the house. But it's simply not true that all people in the "hood" view children taking care of themselves differently than other people.

There were adults there. However, I think the burnt girl was 12. A twelve year old is old enough to legally babysit and/or be home alone, and depending on her individual maturity, old enough to make scrambled eggs or a grilled cheese on the stove top.

And clearly, her parents were in the "allow" category and I don't think that's particularly irresponsible.

true, true and true to all that you said, especially the last line - i didn't think i'd be taken that literally, esp. after i said "ok,too narrow-minded."

i jus feel like the hoopla is extraneous. parents wouldnt sign waivers if they didnt think the kids couldnt handle it. and if there were real child laws being broken, would CBS really air this show knowing that they would be breaking laws and potentially face fines?

and aside from age, what is the difference between a 12 y/o from being burned from stovetop cooking and someone of-age? either way, it's not the parent's fault it happened, it really couldve happened anywhere, anytime, with or without parental supervision. NO ONE is intentionally burned while cooking. geez.