‘Confessions’ Reveals Kids’ Secrets

Sex, violence, drugs, suicide--the very staples of cable television, right? But does a program offering these elements and more belong on the HBO Family channel? What family do these folks have in mind, the Manson family?

As it turns out, “Middle School Confessions,” despite the somewhat lurid title, is a disquieting yet ultimately hopeful look at previously adult issues that now are confronting an ever-younger group of America’s children (tonight, 9:15 to 10:30).

Host Samuel L. Jackson makes brief appearances at the beginning and end of the HBO original documentary, but the real stars are the kids and their shell-shocked parents. “I want to have a happy, well-adjusted child,” one father says, “and it’s just not working out that way.”

Youngsters from 11 to 14 years old reveal to the camera details of their extracurricular activities that had been scrupulously kept from their parents, save for the occasional overheard phone conversation or wadded-up note retrieved from the laundry.

The program is divided into topics such as sex, alcohol, depression and school absenteeism (one precocious 13-year-old manages to land a spot in two segments), but the common denominator for driving students into premature experimentation is peer pressure combined with lack of communication with parents.

“Middle School Confessions” is part of HBO Family’s “Parent Handbook” series that includes print and online materials made available to children, parents and schools. The language is frank and occasionally obscene, but as the program all too vividly points out, it’s probably nothing your middle-schooler hasn’t already heard.