I read this article http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1133795/Fury-C4-Big-Brother-children-left-young-girl-tears.html about children being left to fend without parents.
I've heard of similar programmes where the kids first of all rebel and act in a childish manner before eventually making rules and making one another stick by them. This sounds like it went very differently.

I also read this with interest at the end of the article:

Led by a panel of experts over 18 months, The Good Childhood Inquiry examined all aspects of children's lives and took evidence from 35,000 people.

It painted a picture of children facing an unprecedented assault from a society fuelled by materialism and greed.

The report, by the Children's Society, said more young people were 'unhappy' in the 21st century than in previous generations.

'The world in which most children grow up is more difficult than it should be,' the report said.
'They experience the world as tough because it contains too much conflict and excessive competition - all the products of overblown individualism.'

The 238-page report was written by Lord Layard, emeritus professor at the London School of Economics and a former adviser to Tony Blair, and Professor Judy Dunn, from the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

Key findings included:

* Britain has more 'broken families' than almost any other comparable country.

* New mothers are now far more likely to return to work and their financial independence directly contributes to family break-up.

* Children have £3 billion a year of their own money and watch 21 hours a week of often violent television, video games and internet media.

* A quarter of 16 to 19-year-olds engage in 'hazardous drinking'.

* School dominated by pressure to achieve good exam results, while leaving toddlers in group day care for too long can cause aggressive and anti-social behaviour.

The rise of a culture of greed lies behind many of the problems facing young people, the report said.

Radical action called for included raising taxes to redistribute money from rich to poor, compulsory sex education for primary pupils and the abolition of SATs and school league tables.

The inquiry concluded: 'Children are a sacred trust. Their current feelings and experience matter. Unless we care properly for our children, we shall never build a better world.'

I've thought for a long time now that the culture of this country is very anti-children. It permeates all aspects of society and is clearly evident from a lot of posts on this forum.

It's a difficult issue to solve though because it's brought about by multiple issues - very young mum's who are not equipped to bring up children, a benefits system that doesn't discourage workless households from having more children, over-priced housing meaning both parents have to work etc etc

I'd agree. The sanctity of childhood seems lost in adult values.

Every time the Government tries to intervene to improve things they have a remarkable ability to make things worse! They set up the Teenage pregnancy taskforce around 6 years ago with the aim of reducing the teenage pregnancy figures - what happened - they've increased! It's a clear demonstration that they have no idea of what it's like to live 'in the real world' and are out of touch with society in general.

But, behaviour breeds behaviour and only by showing love, care and support can we hope that the next generation are any better than this one. A 'fixed rate' benefit system would not inadvertantly 'reward' those workless households for having more children and more emphasis on constructive out of school activities for teenagers may help to give them a purpose in life other than think their only hope is to get pregnant, get a council house and live on benefits.

It's just beginning now if anyone wants to know :)

Well, at the end of part 1, the boys have played in the garden, make pot noodle with cold water and eaten beans with uncooked spagetti.
The girls have laid their hands to everything they can to make the house homey and begun baking cakes.

Moving on, the boys have created rules but still aren't cooking. Morale is low and chaos is brimming over.
The girls are eating well but two have appointed themselves the matriarchs and are being rather nasty. There are constant arguments. Again, morale is low.

Are these children representative of most children I wonder or like Big brother specially picked to make good television? Both my sons have been able to cook simple meals since 5 years old. My daughter cooks pretty well too but has never been interested in home making. I wonder how much psychological damage this programme causes for these children.

I certainly wouldn't have let my little one go on a programme like this. I was amazed that none of the boys could cook?! My little one isn't 3 yet but certainly wouldn't starve if he had to fend for himself! He loves to help with the cooking, usually one of the first things he asks to do every morning is baking so i've no doubt that he'll be a perfectly able and capable cook in years to come. I also encourage him to help around the house with cleaning and washing.

As for the girls, what a gender difference! They seemed to think they were very grown up but didn't demonstrate the basics of democracy and organisation. Food for thought for all the parents who I suspect will benefit more from the programme than their children.