Kid Nation

[debknechtel]

Anyone else tuning into watching this very controversial show? It is about a group of kids aged 9 to 15 I think who are left on their own in a ghost town to build a community. They can leave anytime they want but can't back. They are cleaning ,cooking,running the stores etc. I saw the kids being interviewed after and they said it was a great experience. What are your feelings????

hugs debbie

[trainlady]

Deb,
I didn't catch this one.
Did you watch it and was it good, or did it seem mean?

hugs, train

[debknechtel]

I have been watching it Donna...and my kids have too. I think it is okay and I keep watching because I am curious to see how they will do. There is a town council of 4 and at the end of each episode they award a gold star....worth 20,000 dollars to the member they think has contributed the most that week. They have a weekely challenge every week which determines there place in the society for the week. There are 4 teams(that they choose) They go from high class basically to low class....they get paid accordinly. The lowest cleans toilets etc, the next lowest are the cooks, the next are merchants and then high class. They can buy things with their salary in the stores. The kids are responsible for everything....last week they all voted on killing a chicken for supper...one of the 15 year old boys had worked on a farm so he knew how to do it...I was amazed that most of the kids thought this was the right thing to do and that they needed to eat meat not just veggies. So in this way it is kinda of like survivor. Any child can leave at any time just they can not come back. They have lost one 8 year old boy so far. I was sceptical about the whole process but after seeing the families interviewed and listening to the whole process of choosing children and all the prep it was the kids who wanted to do it not the parents. No one knew about the 20'000 gold stars till after the first one was given out. there is an adult host. The kids that were interviewed said there was no way their parents were not letting them go...they wanted to. It is definitly contoversial and they at one time were not going to air it but my kids love watching it. I believe the fear is that we are exploiting kids.

Hugs debbie

[Sammi1961]

DebK, I missed the first episode of this show but saw part of the second episode right up until they were going to killl the chicken and then I had to change the channel. I have no idea what happened or how they killed the chicken but I knew I couldn't watch that part. Can you fill me in? I may give the show another shot.

[debknechtel]

Sammi they killed 2 chickens......the 15 year old knew what to do...used a hatchet and cut the head off. Put them in hot water to help with plucking. The older girls cleaned them and all the kids but 1 were thrilled with supper that night. Just goes to show what kids are capable of doing when they have to. They did not win the group challenge the second time. If they had they would have had the coice of water taps throughout town or a huge heated water slide. In the first one they had a choice of TV or 6 washrooms...they choose washrooms as they only had 1 for 40 children. It is interesting to see just how well the kids seem to be doing.....I think everyone thinks they will just fall apart.


hugs debbie

[Bunny]

I think its kind of intresting just to see what the kids will do. I am also wondering what happens if one of them gets hurt or sick.

[Sammi1961]

Thanks DebK for the update. I really don't think i could watch the chickens being killed. I saw it once when I was a kid and remember thinking it was funny to see headless chickens running around but now it would really bother me. Sounds like the kids are making responsible choices choosing bathrooms over tv. with all the work they must have to do, who would have time to watch tv?? Kids can be so resilient but I am wondering if there will be power struggles eventually. I think this show is an interesting concept and am wondering how it is all going to work out in the end. i hope they have a follow up show to talk with the dks and see what their feelings are once all is said and done.