Like one of those horror movies where the kids have glowing eyes

What on earth is wrong with children!? This is probably the best thing to discuss for my first camp entry on the tube. I raise the question in relation to one point (because, let’s face it, there are many): violence.

So I introduced a game to my group of 10 – 12 year olds. The game involves one group silently acting out a scenario and being told to freeze, then the “audience” children are asked, “What is going to happen next?”

My first scene involved three boys and a bank robbery. The teller is giving money to a customer when in runs a thief with a gun. The boys are told to freeze when the gun is being pointed at the teller’s head. “What’s going to happen?” I asked. Half of my children responded, “He’s going to take the money and run.” Fair enough. The other half answer, “He’s going to kill him.” I asked if that was really a reasonable response and would he take the money anyway... Nope, they thought he’d just plain kill him. I turn to the gunman; “So, what will you do?”

“I’m going to take the money.” A sensible answer. A pause...

“And then I’m going to kill him.”

So off ran the boy, leaving a dead teller and a shocked customer – who of course called the police.

“And what is going to happen to the thief now? Will he go to jail?”

“No, he’s going to buy a Ferrari.”

...!

Now, this scene had a gun involved so the chances of it leading to first degree murder when a ten year old is involved are pretty high (right?) It’s the next four that had me wondering if I was perhaps doing something wrong...

1. A girlfriend overhears her boyfriend speaking to another girl on the phone. She slaps him and then, just as the audience predicts, she kills him. Not exactly sure how but he’s dead by the end of the scene.

2. A talent contest is being held and the first girl is utter rubbish. She’s told to leave and heads off crying. The second girl comes in and is very successful – the judge loves her. All of a sudden, the first girl is back in the scene with a chair, beating the second girl and the judge to death. What!?

3. A football match is taking place and one player kicks a goal. An angry fan runs onto the field and starts a fight with the player. (Italian football – I can see this actually happening, sure.) “Will the goalie help, or join in?” I asked this question, to which answers were divided. I asked the goalie and he said he would help, of course. The scene resumed and =BAM=, all of a sudden there was a dramatised knife fight going down – two out of three killed.

4. At the swimming pool, a diver misjudges a dive and needs rescuing before he drowns. He doesn’t drown because the lifeguard saves him (finally no death, right? Wrong!) The diver’s competition emerges to kill both the lifeguard and the diver. Trying to emphasise that killing isn’t actually as cool as it looks, I ask the question: “So what will happen to [the other diver] now?” The audience responds: “He will now be the winner. The better diver is dead.” (If only I knew how to spell the sound effect of when the palm of my hand hits my head.)

...

I must say I am a little frightened of these kids.