Against Children's Talent Shows

For a few years, the so-called Children's Talent Shows have been proliferating, especially at Christmas time. These are television contests similar to programs for adults such as Masterchef, Operación Triunfo or La Voz, in which boys and girls compete with each other in various disciplines.

The objective is supposed to be forging the future promises of each discipline very early; music, cooking, sports... And incidentally, they say, promote values ​​such as effort, excellence or even cooperation among equals.

But the reality can be very different, and the consequences of participation in these programs, unpredictable and difficult to assess a priori. Therefore, it is necessary not to be fooled by its lavishness and pause to reflect on the psychological consequences of such an early and brutal media exposure.

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Why Children's Talent Shows Are Not a Good Idea

The ages of those who aspire to "minichefs", singers, and others, usually oscillate between 7 and 12 years. However, it can be observed that despite their young age, their participants acquire a series of gestures, reactions and emotional expressions,

more typical of adults subjected to the pressure of intense work stress than of the casual play of childhood or early adolescence.

It must be said that most of the responsibility for such an effort being produced at such a young age never belongs to its protagonists. It is always from families that, perhaps without being aware, put their desire to see their offspring triumphant before the possible consequences that this may have on their school development or on the. setting your personality.

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Devil coachers

After a great competitive effort, girls and boys are subjected to the relentless scrutiny of their "coachers", who are usually artists or characters of recognized fame and with successful careers, but who lack any pedagogical or psychological training. Even so, they not only give advice and warnings in the discipline in which they are reference; they also dare to give general guidelines on how to face other aspects of life.

Become idealized subjects by the adult audience, It is not difficult to imagine what it can mean for the little ones, seeing themselves under the tutelage of recognized and idolized artists or characters. These, through bloody corrections, histrionic gestures and grand words, comment on the performance of boys and girls.

Often times, they are so implacable and severe with those least adapted to the competitive level, as flattering and tender with those who show more talent, effort and abilities. But the most serious thing is that the corrections or instructions are made in front of the attentive gazes of a vast audience of millions of people, who carefully observe their mistakes and successes.

In minors, both flattery and public humiliation can be internalized in a sometimes very negative way. It is a stage in which social recognition is essential for the configuration of a "healthy" personality. For this reason, while good results must be reinforced, reproaches, scolding and corrections must always be given in private.

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Win or lose: a matter of effort or talent

Although everything is impregnated with an atmosphere of fun and a message is transmitted in which “the important thing is to participate and have fun”, the operation of these "shows" is based on competitive dynamics of a world, the adult, in which there are only two options: win or lose.

But in this case, the pressure comes at an age unprepared to take on a challenge as intense as it is ephemeral. It is the logic of "failure or triumph".

In case of "win" (which is unlikely, as only one can win)

They are ages in which you rarely have the ability to assimilate praise and social and family admiration. They are going to be the center of attention, but for a short time. After success, life continues as before, with the same difficulties and dreams. Going back to "real" life can take significant psychological bills.

The historical imagination is full of "broken toys" that after a childhood of fame, money and recognition, have seen their lives dotted with scandals, addictions, suicide attempts and all kinds of problems, the result of poor assimilation of a success early. Celebrities like Macaulay Culkin, Joselito or Drew Barrymore, are examples of this dynamic.

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In the case of not succeeding (which is the most common)

The explicit or implicit message that is usually sent to them is that, either they haven't tried hard enough, or they don't have too much talent.

Everything, at an age with a lack of preparation yet to face failure, in which it is easy to internalize the feeling ridiculous, since they do not have the personal tools to understand the pressure submit.

The consequences can be devastating: school failure, childhood depression, intolerance of frustration, etc.

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You learn by playing

The vital moment that goes from childhood to preadolescence, is a stage in which interaction and fun among equals is essential for the development of personality and sociability. A phase of life in which cooking should be an experimentation, the practice of sport a game and in which singing, dancing or making music something that is enjoyed.

All this remains in the background when what is transmitted is that the most important thing is to win and be above the rest.

Much is said about the importance of competitive spaces from an early age, with the aim of preparing children for a highly demanding adult life. This argument leaves much to be desired, since if there is a general consensus in the majority of theoretical currents, in pedagogy and psychology, is that in the first stages of life one learns Playing. And that means that the end result is not as important as the game process itself.

It is through play and repetition that you learn and prepare for adult life. School, conservatories and sports tournaments will come, so that they internalize competitiveness. I am not saying that precocious talents should not be fostered, nor that competition, understood properly, is bad in itself.

I think it must encourage effort and talent, but from cooperative play, pure enjoyment and mutual support among equals.

For this reason, my opinion is that the viewing by minors of this type of program is highly inadvisable and even less, participation in them. The model it reproduces is neither the most educational nor the most suitable for psychological development, with unpredictable consequences for the future.