Five Lessons You Will Learn From Watching Kid Nation

ABC may have the best new show on TV. Their new show Kid Nation is getting great ratings and has viewers of all ages. The show takes a group of kids and forces them to live on a ranch with no adults. They must form their own rules, government and way of life. The show, besides being entertaining, has lots of lessons or messages about what the world is really like. Here are five major themes you will observe when watching this show.

1. If you don't work you don't eat. What I think I like most about Kid Nation is that the kids on the show work! So many kids today don't know the value of a hard earned dollar. They have things handed to them. They are spoiled rotten! The kids on this show, for 40 days, earn everything they get. They prepare their own meals, wash their own clothes and clean their own dishes. If they want to go shopping at the town store, also run by kids, they have to work to earn money so that they can do so. These kids are learning a lesson that many adults, unfortunately, still haven learned: Work get paid, don't work-don't get paid!

2. Sometimes what you think you want, is not what you really need. Each week these kids face a challenge. If all the kids complete the challenge in the given time they have a choice of two rewards. Usually one reward is something they think they really want and the other is something they really need. An example, one week the reward was a couple dozen pizzas or a microwave. For a ten year old pizza would be the hands down choice. The kids surprisingly, realize the value of having a microwave that will last for weeks. Sure it will require more work, but in the long run it was the much better choice.

3. Religious differences can be worked out. Kids on the show have various religious beliefs. Like adults they must decide who to handle this. The kids make smart choices, after realizing that people deserve the freedom of choice and that you can't force a person to belief a certain thing. Christian, Muslim and even atheist are represented on the show.

4. There are slackers in every group. There will always be that person who wants to get by with doing as little as possible. This is obvious after watching the show. Some kids sit around and do nothing and enjoy the work of other people.

5. Somebody's got to be the 'goodie-two-shoes.' I love to watch kids on the show suck up to others each. They have the opportunity to earn a star that is worth $20,000 dollars. Kids that normally would be brat's all of a sudden become good citizens when a reward is on the line. There will always be a goodie-two-shoes.