If you’ve been online recently, a discussion has been going on about a recent Its Showtime episode, where a kid voiced out about some family issues they had on air.
The Internet applauded the hosts for being able to handle the situation professionally while trying to comfort the child as well. However, it didn’t come without a few concerns.
There may be various reactions to what happened on the recent #ShowtimeSummertime episode a few weeks ago, but one thing’s for sure it opened an essential conversation on how parents’ actions affect their children in more ways than one.
It might be hard for some parents to accept, but despite how young their kids can be, they have emotions to respect and for adults to be aware of. These children, no matter how young they are, are also very keen on what’s going on around them and if you think they don’t have a clue about what’s happening, chances are, they already know.
A child as young as 7 years old like Kulot, is too young to have to address family issues like the infidelity of a parent. Despite how innocent she appears, in the videos circulating online, there is a particular hint of pain that lace her words that the netizens were quick to catch.
Tears brimming her eyes, she shared “madami pa din ho ‘yang ka-text” referring to her father who was revealed earlier in the interview, to having frequent disagreements and arguments with Kulot’s mother as they often catch him cheating.
Hosts Vice Ganda and Anne Curtis were quick to soothe Kulot as the child was now on the brink of tears, with Anne’s voice cracking as if she was about to cry herself.
Her hesitance to say “I love you” to her father
To comfort the young girl, host Vice Ganda asked Kulot if she loved her father, to which she was quick to say yes. However, her reluctance to say the words to her father was not out of mere shyness for being on tv but was a sign the netizens took as Kulot setting boundaries between her and her father at a young age.
During this developmental period of a child, these shouldn’t be the things they should be worried about. Nor is this a good weight to carry on her chest growing up.
What Psychologists think
Among the parties that showed concern for Kulot were psychologists who were quick to call on sharing their takes and sentiments online. Among them was Facebook user Jeemon Rey Amaca Bacaoco, who was a concerned psychologist. In his Facebook post made three weeks ago, he wrote that while the show’s intention was good, openly talking about family conflict on live TV can contribute to serious repercussions on a child’s mental health and well-being. Moreover, Bacaoco added that a child should not be forced to say I love you to any family member, especially if they express that they’re not comfortable doing so. This may be a response to how host Vice Ganda handled the situation by asking Kulot to say “I love you” to her dad after showing disdain.
As adults, it may be hard to accept that children can understand certain situations even when we don’t really expect them to. Children have a certain curiosity with their innocence and it is our role as adults to make sure we help them understand things better without hurting them in the process.
banner by: @justdrawrin
