Monday, August 27, 2007

Honey we're killing the kids

I watched the above show this week and was somewhat horrified by it. The format is basically another help-the-useless-parents type show, but with the twist that the presenters show the parents mocked-up versions of how their child is predicted to look at 40, and during the show get them to change their ways in order to get a prettified version of the same with a smile instead of a frown. The family had two daughters, one thin & pretty and one plump & whiny, and the parents found it difficult to show affection for the latter, thereby increasing the whininess exponentially.

I wonder about these shows, I really do, because I can imagine the latter child seeing this programme and knowing for sure what she already suspects, that she isn't easy for her parents to love and they do prefer her sister. No matter what inroads the shrinks and lifestyle managers (or whatever the heck the so-called experts call themselves) make on improving the family's dynamic, that child actually seeing the show would be like dropping Little Boy on her.

If you were seven and you knew you were on a tv show, you'd want to see it, right? And you'd probably tell the other kids at school you were on telly, wouldn't you?

It's exploitation tv.

And it makes me agitated.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate that show as well. "Eat all the right things and your child will turn out a nice middle-class consumer, like a doctor or something. Keep on the turkey twizzlers and your child will end up fat and pasty poor white trash like you are now, you scumbags."

The only show in that particular ilk stamp and kidney that I like, is "The house of tiny tearaways" although the title nearly put me off, it's so twee it makes me throw up in my mouth a little. However, it's the only show where the presenter Tanya Byron seems genuinely concerned in a nice way, genuinely sympathetic as opposed to that blonde woman on "Honey" whose expression always seems to be themes and variations on "F you!" where the parents are concerned.
However if it's on, I will watch it, just to get parenting ideas (to my shame!) and it's always cheerful to see poor couch potato kiddies learning that they have a good singing voice and can do fun things outside the home. If only my Mum had seen it when I was growing up, grumble grumble!
Abster xx

Mephitis said...

These sorts of programmes do make me feel a bit better about my parenting (at those other poor schmucks' expense, tho! :)). They do help me with ideas on how to tackle things, too.

I just felt really bad for the little girl in that episode, because some of the sort of diary-cam moments with the mum - the things she said about her less-favoured child, made me want to beat her to death with the sticky end... It's one thing to have those moments - it's quite another to say them out-loud, on camera!