So I was just watching an episode of this musical reality show called The Voice Kids, and I couldn’t help but reflect on the many various such reality shows kids version.
Now, we are no strangers to reality shows, ever since Indian Idol, which was the biggest and most famous reality show, later on spawned a plethora of reality shows over the years.
Nothing was spared and a new reality show was popping up literally every month, from dance to music, to finding a partner, to comedy and more.
And to be honest, none of those shows actually came close to bothering me that much, I even used to enjoy a few of them myself.
Well, up until these type of shows and saas-bahu shows were kind of the only things left on Indian television. Sure, there were bits and sects of shows every now and then, that tried to break the norm and show something different.
But ultimately, they would either turn the same route as the other soap operas or shut down due to falling ratings.
The one type of reality show that started to truly bug me was the kids version of them, wherein they would keep the concept but just replace the older contestants with young kids.
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And although I am sort of against all of them, it was the musical reality shows, kids version that irked me the most.
It was a combination of things that I feel are completely flawed against such a concept and why I feel that out of all the kids reality shows, they are the worst.
Now, the biggest reason being that the voices of kids change over a period of time. As they grow older, it is inevitable that puberty and other events will change their voice considerably.
So, it might be safe to say that, a kid that gained a lot of fame through one such kids musical show, might not enjoy it for long, as their voice would probably change over time.
At this moment, they might have really good range, but what happens in ten or so years?
Another reason being that some of these kids are really young, some of them being younger than even 10 years old.
And they are thrust into such a competitive stage that too, on such a public platform. Where they are pitted again each other and made to compete and appease the public, in order to get the maximum votes.
One could argue that are not school competitions the same, kids compete in those too, so why is this considered bad?
Well to those I’d just say to imagine the level of competition and the stage that it is all happening at. Participating in a school competition, where the environment is much more controlled and most of all, the glare of media is absent, is widely different to competing on the national level with literally thousands of people watching you on screen.
The public scrutiny, media, their young age and probability of their voice changing over the years can all lead to some very difficult issues that a child has to deal with at such a young age.
Signing off, I would just say, there is nothing wrong with flaunting the talents of one’s child, or encouraging them to pursue it and hone it further. But participating in a reality TV show, that too a music based one is not, according to me, the right way to do so.
Other Recommendations:
http://edtimes.in/2016/08/the-government-is-planning-to-launch-a-reality-show-for-potential-startups/
http://edtimes.in/2016/09/do-you-have-an-opinion-a-question-to-the-headline-reading-generation/
