Little People, Big World
Ages 6-9, Discovery, Good Ol' Values, Recommended by Parents Television Council
What’s Smart About It: A family faces and overcomes amazing challenges, a model of strength and compassion.
Quick Snapshot: Matt and Amy, both 4 feet tall, face a variety of challenges in raising their four children: twins Jeremy and Zach, who is 2-feet shorter than his brother, and younger siblings Molly and Jacob, who like Jeremy are average height. Together they live on a 34-acre Oregon farm that serves as part playground and part moneymaker.
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I’m kind of shocked this show made it on this list — there are plenty of other TLC shows that are similar in nature but far more intelligent and useful regarding issues of diversity.
This show has a terrific premise. Unfortunately, the show has run long enough that, as in many ‘normal family tv show’ cases, I hate to say it but after extended broadcast footage starting to scrape the barrel, the family’s “dumb is showing.”
The kids normally goof off, hurt each other, fight, are slobs, and refuse to cooperate or follow parental instructions or even bother with homework; the parents display wishy-washy parenting at best, do not work together, are often just as whiny and counter-productive as the kids, rarely follow-through effectively on ideas or projects or discipline, and tend to display a lack of good parental roles or judgement.
I loved this show when it first aired, but now there is so much dysfunction and bad decision-making that I can’t stand it. Mom Amy seems the most practical person in the house and to have the most consistent integrity, but pitted against the other 5, she doesn’t stand a chance. It’s painful to watch. I might watch this show if it spent more time following her through her day during the parts that have little involvement from the other family members.
While I don’t necessarily agree with some of the approaches of the parents shown on CMT’s “World’s Strictest Parents,” at least they are able to show youth transformations and helpful family guidance, along with seemingly sound fiscal and consequences decision-making. I’d rather spend my time watching that show instead. In comparison, I don’t know how the “LP,BW” family even manages to survive the week together anymore. They also don’t seem to make very wise adjustments when their plans fail or end in the emergency room, and I suspect I’m not the only one to be surprised some of the family members have survived some of the unwise shananigans that continue to be aired. Thus sometimes this show also seems like a dumbed-down spin-off of the MTV’s famous, drunken show (”Jack—”) about young adults who pulled stupid stunts together and always thot it was funny to get hurt. -Seriously, way too many scenes are that bad.