For Kids on Reality TV, Every Show Might Be 'Survivor'

Oct. 19, 2009 — -- Reality television has always favored young stars. But with the median age of stars having sunk to the single digits on some reality TV shows, child psychology and media experts are questioning whether the trend has gone too far.

Shows like "Jon and Kate Plus 8," "18 Kids and Counting," "Kid Nation" and "Baby Borrower," all of which place children at the center of the action, may be hurting kids on both sides of the screen, critics say.

"The child stars who are not on reality TV, they understand that what they're doing is a story, it's fantasy," said Nadine Kaslow, a clinical psychologist and Emory University professor. "For these reality kids, this is about their lives -- they're not just characters. It's about them."

Underscoring these concerns was the revelation Sunday that the 50-mile flight of a helium balloon believed to be carrying 6-year-old Falcon Heene was in fact an elaborate publicity stunt cooked up by the boy's father, Richard Heene, to promote what he hoped would be a new reality show. In one breathtaking stroke, Heene put a new face on parental ambition and celebrity envy, and renewed the question of whether pushing kids in front of reality TV cameras constitutes some kind of abuse.

Are parents who allow their children to be filmed for reality television guilty of exploitation? Or are they just part of a long entertainment tradition, stretching from "The Donna Reed Show" to Jackie Coogan to "Kids Say the Darndest Things."

"I can't think of any other time in media history that we've seen this kind of exploitation," Jeffrey McCall, professor of communications at DePauw University, told ABC News. "I'm afraid it might get worse before it gets better."

"I think it goes beyond Art Linkletter innocently talking to a couple of kids," he said. "The circumstances are much more concocted when you have producers going after kids on reality shows. ... When you've got these kids being videotaped from every angle, you know the kids aren't acting like they would otherwise.

"There are so many machinations going on behind the scenes that it's a joke to call it 'reality.'"

Kaslow said the collision of reality TV and real life could be painful for child performers.

"What we can say in general is that reality TV shows certainly have the imagination of the public," Kaslow said. "For these children, they're confusing. They're not able to be themselves. Their lives are being interrupted. This poor kid [Falcon Heene] at school -- what are they going to say to him? Are they going to call him 'Balloon Boy'? How is he going to handle the social pressure? He may feel guilty, he may feel embarrassed."