The secret life of 4 year olds

Yes, I heard or saw on one of the programmes that it was a Steiner school; I think the children must have been picked to spend a week there just before they started at primary school.

I noticed it particularly because there was a thread with posts about Steiner schools (a worried gran posting) and I thought what a lovely school it seemed to be.

Odd isn't it Elrel DS is still in touch with a friend he made at playgroup when they were three. After over 30 years I don't think they've ever fallen out.

Deedaa - I thought the girl I sat next to in primary school was a good friend until secondary school when it rapidly became clear that I was firmly dropped.

I don't know, it was just the way it was set out, I expect Elrel is right if she saw it in the credits.

Girls do seem to be more manipulative somehow. My three little grandsons seem so much more straightforward, even with the one who may or may not be autistic what you see is very much what you get.

When my best friend and I moved up to the Grammar school she suddenly cut me dead and never spoke to me again - I never did find out why. If we'd been boys I'm sure we'd have been too busy building something to fall out.

I wondered about Steiner because of something I glimpsed in the end credits.

I don't think it's any particular 'type' of school. Where did you get your information from, starbird?

Eirel. I thought it was a Montessori school?

I can remember girls ganging up to leave one out when I was 9/10 it's so harsh. This showed it begins much younger. It goes on all through childhood and causes a lot of unhappiness. The singing of emotions is new to me, it was funny when they all started doing it.
Super programme, looking forward to the 5 year olds.

Rosesarered - you are so right, about Elliot's family and about our own good fortune. I kept thinking how sad for the mother to look at her two year old and baby and know she couldn't be there for them much longer. Unimaginable.

Yes, Lola is more manipulative than Tia, who is bossy but basically kind.I liked the boy who asked Tia ( newly married!) if he could play, and said could he be "their pet crocodile".

I agree, and lovely to watch him (Elliot) come out of his shell and make a friend or two.

The girls are certainly a lot more manipulative and devious than the boys - I'm sure I was never that articulate at 4! Felt sorry for Connie at the end when she'd fallen out of favour with Lola (is that her name? Little blonde girl)

Watching this week, it was so sad that Elliot ( little new blonde boy) had lost his Mother to cancer when he was only 2 years old, but still talked about her.The Father was doing a good job of bringing up the two children by himself, but what a heartbreaking situation for the whole family.It did make me think about grumbling on about something at our age, and how glad we should be that we are still here, after a ( fairly) long life, to see our children grown up, and with their own children.

I love listening to some of their conversations. All the things they hear their parents say Must remember to employ a Hula Hoop next time I want to get someone's attention!

Yes so did I, I think the camera followed the children around a bit more on the earlier programme when they were just doing their own thing, this new one seems less spontaneous.

Oh dear - typical!
I still enjoyed it though.

I think you're talking about the previous one-off documentary shown earlier this year, TriciaF - the little boy called Chaim was featured in that.

A six part series with the same title started last night, hence this thread .

I just watched it on youtube - lovely children, even the bully in the end
I though it mainly shows the different characters emerging. A lot of the things they said were probably what they'd heard their parents saying.
After retiring I had a part-time job helping a Downs girl to integrate in a class of "normal" 4 year olds. There was one pair of girls , twins, who showed so much empathy and kindness towards her. The others were tolerant , she could be difficult.
There was also a heavyweight boy, very like Chaim. I felt rather sorry for him, he was so different because of his size. He grew up to be a decent teenager.
I remember the teacher in charge saying that most of the problems at this age would change, especially a little girl who refused to speak, and she was right.

I kept thinking of the Haribos advert.

The redhead made me think of Violet Elizabeth

I loved the way Theo wouldn't give up with the little boy who had the obsession with trains. He won him over in the end. I bet the 'experts' wouldn't have got that far with him in a week. Priceless.

It was obvious the 'experts' (read prats) had never had children.
It was obvious from their comments, talk about stating the bleeding obvious, and, the cruelty with the presents. I wanted to slap them.
Loved Tia.

Tia is very bright and has wonderful language and manipulation skills. A bit full on at 4 but as she matures she should come into her own.

The presents ( or lack of) was part of a controlled social experiment, it was only a few moments and then the children received their gifts.Notice that they were immediately happy ( no black looks or smouldering resentment)children live more in the moment at that age.

I would be surprised if that were a Steiner School because of the nature of the play equipment - but maybe they were put into a different setting for these programmes. I cannot imagine any "Steiner parent" allowing their children to be manipulated in this way.