FROM his treetop position, the expert hunter reloads his rifle and sprays bullets at his target.
The gunman is just five years old — and fortunately, the weapon is imaginary.
But while it is hardly unusual for children to play shooting games, this little warrior is alarmingly knowledgeable about real guns.
“Any of you boys want to go hunting?” asks freckled young Harlo. “Here’s my AK-47.”
The unsettling scene unfolds in the new series of Channel 4 documentary The Secret Life Of Four And Five Year Olds, which starts tomorrow.
For the first time, the programme includes an international visitor in the shape of the youngster from Los Angeles.
Wearing cowboy boots, he is seen prowling around the programme’s camera-filled garden, reloading his pretend rifle with a “chu-chu” noise, then firing with a “thrruuum”.
He even offers to show another child how to use a gun and asks: “You got your gun licence?”
The other children may not bat an eyelid, but Harlo’s familiarity with guns is sure to disturb adult viewers.
Executive producer Daniel Fromm says: “We’ve seen children playing cops and robbers but Harlo knew a lot about weapons.
“His family is originally from Ohio, his grandad goes hunting, he knew about shotguns.”
And in reference to scenes which are not in the finished programme, he adds: “He talked about teachers having guns to protect children from bad guys. It’s fascinating to see how that has been absorbed at such a young age.”
Harlo’s attitude to guns also stunned Paul Howard-Jones, Professor of Neuroscience and Education at Bristol University and one of the programme’s expert commentators.
He said: “I was a little bit open-mouthed, I have to say. The first thing I felt was a sense of shock and feeling that this discussion about guns just wasn’t appropriate in a nursery.
“But the thing about Secret Life is that it takes you into the children’s world, and what we have here is an ordinary five-year-old thinking quite carefully and reflecting and reasoning about the world he is growing up in.”
Besides Harlo, who appears in episode three, the new series also features Omar, a Syrian refugee, as well as a bucking bronco, a camel, a goat and even a giant dancing robot.
There is never a dull moment in the programme’s specially adapted North London nursery and playground, in which the children’s interactions are followed by 28 cameras.
Five-year-old Merryn, who describes her own intelligence as “100 metres clever”, names Jeremy Corbyn as her hero.
She shows the children a birthday card signed by the Labour leader and explains she likes him because “he shouts at Theresa May like this, ‘Theresa May, it’s not your business!’”
This is met by Tilly-Marie’s question: “Did she saved you once?”
Then there is little Samuel, listing his icon as his daddy “in heaven” and who is seen making a pretend phone call from the nursery to tell his dad all about the TV show.
Hidden away in their viewing room, the production crew are in bits. Daniel recalls: “All of us had to wipe away a tear. It was very moving.”
This series attracted a record number of applicants to be on the programme, with more than 6,000 parents putting their kids forward.
It is a huge leap since the first series in 2015, when only a “handful” of people applied to take part in the social experiment.
Civil servant Heather, 39, from Northumberland, nominated her daughter Penny this time because, like many mums, she was curious about how her child behaved beyond her parents’ earshot.
She says: “It was never about putting Penny on TV, it was purely because I wanted to see how she behaved in nursery. I wanted to be that fly on the wall.”
She has had a sneak preview of the programme and says she was bursting with pride at how Penny, who has spina bifida, dealt with questions over her disability. She says: “I loved the way she was quite open about her condition.
“At one point, a boy called Jackson asks her, ‘What’s that wheelbarrow thing?’ and Penny just says simply, ‘It’s my wheelchair, I use it when my legs are tired’.
“It’s such a lovely moment because he says, ‘OK then’. It shows how children are so accepting.”
Heather, a mum of three, adds that she found the sandwich-making contest, which Penny and her partner Na’Shae won, a bit stomach-churning.
She says: “It was made with ham, cheese, lettuce, mustard, chocolate spread, honey and sprinkles. It was quite the sandwich.
“I felt sorry for Simon, the teacher, having to eat it.” The first programme looks at how a generation of so-called “digital native” children, who are growing up surrounded by tablets and smartphones, interact with such technology.
In Britain, 30 to 40 per cent of kids this age have a tablet and the show’s psychologist, Dr Elizabeth Kilbey, makes the startling point about the ten children: “Between them, this class own four laptops, five tablets and five games consoles.”
The girls are so fixated on the tablets they have been given to play with, not even the smell of chocolate and treats can lure them away.
Neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow says: “It’s striking to see how captivated they are by them.” Londoner Na’Shae is no stranger to taking selfies.
The bubbly youngster, who believes “rules are boring”, pouts at a camera she is given and raises a thumbs-up to the best photos.
Dapper Arthur, who wears a smart red bow tie and matching braces, is a “21st century kid”, according to his mum Ruby, a politics and economics student, who thinks he could grow up to be another Elon Musk, the tycoon behind Tesla electric cars.
She says: “Try as I might to get him on to more traditional toys, he is always drawn to the tech side of things. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t go out and invent the next Tesla.”
When a robot is introduced to class, it’s Arthur who gives the toy a name — Bobby — and refers to it as “my friend”.
Together with Archie, he even bandages the robot’s arm after it crashes into a wall.
Asked if robots have feelings, Arthur says: “Of course. They’re like people, and people have feelings.”
But there’s also plenty of human attraction too and the children spend a lot of time thinking about love.
Arthur and Iris, from North Yorkshire, pronounce themselves girlfriend and boyfriend.
He says he loves her “ten hundred” and tells her: “I made a wish for you to love me for ever.”
So it’s a cruel life lesson when, in episode two, fickle Iris transfers her affections to Frankie, with his curly blond mop, and brutally tells Arthur she doesn’t love him any more.
“I’ll tell my mum,” is the only weapon Arthur has left.
For the five-year-olds, Maisie shows what “snogging” is by smooching her hand, and Connor says of love: “It makes your blood pressure faster and your heart go bum, bum, bum.”
Reilly’s obsession with Harlo culminates in giving him a homemade picture — which he rips apart and stomps on.
He vows he will be “single his whole life” and although he apologises to Reilly, she quickly moves on to Connor anyway.
The pair sip pretend cocktails on sun loungers and Connor says: “I feel like I have a date.”
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He even gets to kiss Reilly’s outstretched hand.
In an interview afterwards, a blushing Connor says it felt “good”, to which Reilly tells him: “You have to say ‘lovely’ if you liked it.”
“Lovely,” Connor replies.
Bonding with 'bots
THE series focuses on how children get along with tech gadgetry, and educational neuroscientist Paul Howard-Jones says it is sure to get viewers talking.
He says: “Seeing the children interact with technology is truly fascinating.
“We’re at a point with touchscreens that very young children are involved with technology, and there’s a debate about whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“A lot of the research shows we should not be worrying about the technology, so much as what they are doing with the technology.
“The first episode introduces a robot, and there is a lot of interest among scientists about the idea of robot teachers or teaching assistants.
“There are many social questions around that.
“What I found surprising is the way the children build a relationship with the robot. Children are more imaginative than the rest of us and it’s easier for them to believe they are dealing with something animate.
“What Secret Life is good at is not making judgments but showing you the children’s behaviour and prompting the audience to ask the questions.
“I think the amount of debate and interest is justified, because we really do need to be thinking about this.”
- The Secret Life Of 4 And 5 Year Olds is on Thursdays at 8pm on Channel 4.
https://textbacklinkexchanges.com/from-a-girl-whose-hero-is-jeremy-corbyn-to-a-boy-who-makes-pretend-calls-to-his-dad-in-heaven-meet-the-adorable-new-stars-of-the-secret-life-of-4-and-5-year-olds/
News Pictures From a girl whose hero is Jeremy Corbyn to a boy who makes pretend calls to his dad in heaven, meet the adorable new stars of The Secret Life of 4 and 5 year olds
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/NINTCHDBPICT000460298370.jpg?strip=all&w=960
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