Kid Nation Review

Overall 3.50 of 5 view all 6 reviews

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LauraBelle
South Elgin, IL

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Teaching Life Lessons to Kids

Entertainment Writer, reality TV junkie, Parent of School Age Children, one that didn't pay attn. in History

Pros

Kids learning independence, Monetary rewards for their future, Teaching history

Cons

Hard to watch young kids suffering

SEP

2007

Intro
A new reality series this fall, Kid Nation, has received some early critiques, even before the show aired. The show's premise has kids creating a society of their own, doing it all, and many thought it was exploiting the kids. Before even seeing the show, they thought the kids would be abandoned out there with no help whatsoever. Of course, this isn't how the show is playing out.

What It's About
Forty kids, ranging in ages of 8 to 15, are driven out to what certainly resembles an old ghost town, but I kept thinking it was probably a studio lot somewhere, as it looked like every ghost town ever shown on TV. I didn't see a jail cell, otherwise I would have known for sure it was the one used on the Brady Bunch when they're on the way to the Grand Canyon. They aren't without some guidance; however, as set up for them is the Town Council, four kids who have already proven to be leaders at home. They are provided help along the way at strategic times, like a cookbook appearing right when they decide to get some dinner going, and realize no one knows how to cook. A Town Hall Meeting is called every few days, and kids are given the chance to leave the experience if they wish.

Developing Life Skills
To me, the best part of this show is the life skills these kids are learning. They're learning to be independent. Struggling to pull a wagon into the ghost town, one boy hurts his leg, and the kids gather around him to be sure he's okay. Around dinnertime, they know they need to cook, but have no idea how. A cookbook appears, but instead of using it right away, some try making macaroni and cheese without a recipe. They have no idea how much pasta to put into the water, nor do they know the water had to be boiled first. They try it anyway, and when it doesn't work out, they dump it outside. Some get upset, saying it's wasting the food, while others insist starting over was the only way to go with this. One girl finally resorts to reading the cookbook and doing it the right way. It's not not the perfect food for any of them, but they all eat.

History Lesson
Along the way, these kids get the additional benefit of learning a little history. They talk about the pioneers of our country as well as things that happened around the gold mining/Wild West era. The four leaders in the Town Council discover a book that tells them that their town, Bonanza City, fell years ago because of the mistakes they made. They encourage the kids to not make the same mistakes, and have them start by dividing the group of forty into four separate smaller groups. The host then meets with the whole town and has them compete for different jobs in the town, such as the laborers, upper class, merchants, and cooks. They are paid for their labor in buffalo nickels, and they get paid in different amounts with the laborers getting the least and upper class the most. Yet another life lesson buried in there. The reward they earn for completing the competition in the time allowed is making a choice between having additional outhouses, other than just the one they had for all forty kids, or a television. Some kids want the outhouses, and some others want the TV. The Town Council is split on the decision as well, but eventually they decide the outhouses are the way to go. Necessity or luxury.

Monetary Rewards
A special gold star is awarded to one of the kids every week. The Town Council decides which one person has done the most to help the town that week and awards it at the Town Hall Meeting. It resembles a huge gold paperweight, and the part that parents will like is that it's "worth its weight in gold." That means it's worth $20,000 towards the child's future. After the child receives the star, they are allowed to call home and talk to their parents to tell them of the their reward and how they are doing. As a parent, I know I'd be going stir crazy wondering how my child was doing, and I can only imagine the elation of the parents receiving this call.

The Part That's Hard to Watch
There are some kids who get very homesick on this show, and while they are allowed to leave if they want, they do agonize some over their situations. One of the leaders on the town council, the youngest of the four at 11, struggles with being homesick, but given the chance to leave, decides to stay. The youngest person in the camp at 8-1/2 decides he just can't do it. He says repeatedly he is too young for this and he misses his home. Everyone tries to help him feel more comfortable, telling him they'll act as his parents, and helping him catch a rabbit to have as a pet, but he makes the decision to leave at the Town Hall Meeting. It is a little hard to watch him agonize over this, but he's not being forced to stay and is allowed to leave. His conflict is interesting, though. He keeps repeating the same thing over and over that he's too young to be there, and it almost seems like it was a battle he heard adults saying that he picked up, leaving him in conflict.

Conclusion
Overall, I think this is a good experience for these kids. They are not only earning money towards their futures, they are learning history, what formed our nation, and most importantly, are learning life lessons that everyone needs to learn to get by in life. These kids will know by the time the show ends that they can survive out there.

Kid Nation is recommended by LauraBelle

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Comments about LauraBelle’s Review

CyndiA wrote on Sep 25, 2007 at 7:45PM

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I've been reading up on this but didn't watch it. I think it would be interesting. I sure wouldn't sign for my boys to do something like this though. I'm anal mom.

Jo wrote on Sep 25, 2007 at 5:42PM

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Hi Laura, I watched the preview on YouTube and was excited to watch this as a former social worker but something stopped me. I think it was the part that's hard to watch you mentioned. Something just doesn't sit right about the whole thing. Of course there's lots of controversy around the show. Jo