A&E, a cable network whose focus is shifting these days, like many other networks, away from the “Arts” and more toward the “Entertainment” end of the spectrum with shows like Intervention and  Gene Simmons: Family Jewels, recently premiered a new show called Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal.  Here’s a little promo clip to give you the gist:

The premise here is that they take three kids who appear to be receiving psychic input, introduce them to each other, and then put them in a situation (like taking them to a haunted B&B) where their skills will be put to work and they can learn methods to control and/or increase their psychic abilities.  Leading the pack on these excursions are psychic Chip Coffey, who has appeared on Paranormal State several times and has a background in counseling, and Dr. Lisa Miller, clinical psychologist and spiritual scholar.  Dr. Miller works with the kids and the parents to help identify what kind of psychic phenomenon they are experiencing, and to help address the fear and social stigma that come with these experiences.  Chip, on the other hand, makes it his job to explain to the children what it is they are experiencing, things they can do to protect themselves, ways to handle the fear that comes with, you know, seeing dead people, and the things they can do to control the input they are receiving.

As far as these “documentary” style television shows go, this one is well put together, provides a little bit of drama, and comes off as though they are really helping these kids and their parents by giving them the tools they need to handle their very different reality of everyday life.  But there is a bit of a buzz going on around the internet about this program that is divided into two camps: one camp thinks this is great and really good for the kids and their families, but the other sees this as exploitation of some very confused kids and their concerned parents.  Personally, I am a bit torn on this issue.  I suppose that if you don’t buy into psychics in the first place, you would automatically fall into the latter category, but that’s not the issue I have.  I know that there are simply people out there who are more sensitive to energy, and when they say they are seeing images or receiving messages, I don’t automatically jump to the conclusion that they are schizo, but where my concern lies is with “outting” these kids.

I think it is great that they connect these kids with one another, because I am sure they feel very alone, but what happens when filming is over and they have to go back to their lives?  Many of these kids talk during the show about how they have never told their friends about what they are experiencing, and how they feel so “different” from everyone else, and now everyone will know.  It doesn’t even matter if their friends don’t catch the show, word will get around.  As a for instance, the premier episode of the show featured a girl from my hometown of Lawrence, Kansas.  The mother of this little girl belongs to one of the more hard-core christian churches in town, so she has had a hard time coming to terms with what her daughter is experiencing and deciding whether or not to put her on the show.  The end result of the decision?  A front page article in the Lawrence Journal World on her daughter and the show.  Now everyone knows.  Now, I’m sure her mom made the decision that it was okay for people to know when she let her child do the show, but her child will be going back to school in the fall, and kids are cruel.  That is where my concern lies.  I know the show gives them some great tools to deal with their abilities, but do they do anything to help with the aftermath of such an outting?  If they don’t, then this is simply another form of exploitation.  These kids had a kind of self-imposed isolation before the show, and all I hope is that having their unusual talents aired before the world doesn’t impose a kind of social leprosy on them.

Okay, now that I have aired all of that, I will repeat that it is a decently entertaining show, despite being on shaky moral ground, and Chip and Dr. Miller appear to take their jobs quite seriously and handle the kids pretty well.  For more information on the show and to find out when you can watch it, go here.

Your in this life and the next!

GhOsTwRiTeR KiM