Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal

What a buzz kill. This "guy" is the worst host and most off putting sort that I've seen for a while. His voice is shrill. His manner is demeaning. He is obviously battling personal demons far more menacing than kids being afraid of the dark. The show features parents with phobias of their own, and this "man" takes advantage of their vulnerability and insults and berates the parents for showing weakness in front of the kids. He blames the kids for picking up on this fear and feeding off of it with their own imagination. He pushes the selffulfilling prophesy idea. What sort of message "he" is sending to families I cannot say, except that on the surface at least, he lectures and treats parents like they are truant children in front of their kids. An abysmal show with an atrocious host. 1 out of 10.

This program is for people who are interested in the human side of being a psychic. We usually only see the performances of a psychic's abilities on ghost show investigations. In Psychic Kids, we have the rare opportunity to get a glimpse into the lives of young people who have been born with abilities to sense disembodied people who have died. In a compelling manner, this show makes it clear this is often something that sets them apart from family and friends in a way that produces feelings of being very alone and ostracized, being labelled as "weird". And, worse.

In addition, they often recount for the camera concerning not being able to sleep out of pure fear, or because the spirits simply will not leave them alone.

The format includes the hosts making an attempt to alleviate some of the problems the children have with their parent(s). This, at times, can be an emotional experience and it is evident on film. It all seems genuine. The show's psychics, mainly Chip Coffey, who at first conveys a rather brusque manner, is quickly however to be seen as very caring and sensitive to the children, their parents and, of course, to the spirit world. In each show, the kids are taken into a building that is known to have strange goings-on and are asked to convey what they are sensing. It's interesting to see this because these are not psychics who are doing it as a livelihood (yet) and are just beginning to explore what is possible with their abilities. Coffey guides them in this with his adage "no fear, no doubt".

I have enjoyed this show very much.