Forget play lunch and school uniforms, children around the world want to become editors-in-chief, chart-topping recording artists and leading actors before they graduate high school.
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The zeitgeist's current obsession with child prodigies is encouraging more Australian kids to abandon after-school productions and focus on landing a big break on a televised talent show to learn the art of show business long before they can vote or drink legally.
While Junior Masterchef pre-heats its second season, Channel Ten is now preparing to serve up a third series of Young Talent Time, 40 years after the original talent quest series went to air.
The first auditions for the new series of the variety show were held in Perth over the weekend, where creator and co-producer Johnny Young described the upcoming series as "the university of musical entertainment" for eight to 16-year-olds.
But academics are concerned that this new generation of child-orientated programming and G-rated entertainment will spark fresh controversy regarding exploitation and paedophilia rather than launch successful careers in showbiz.
"The anxieties of paedophilia are a lot more complex these days," Curtin University Professor of Cultural Studies Jon Stratton said.
"In the 1970s this wasn't as big an issue as it has become now, in the 1970s it wasn't an issue but a program like this is much more complicated now than it was back then.
"I suspect the increasing concern over paedophilia was one of the reasons the show may have lost popularity in the 1980s, I think a lot of people started to wonder what they were looking at," he said referring the heavy stage make up, adult costuming and set lists of previous Young Talent Time episodes.
The opening number of the first-ever show was The 5th Dimensions' Up, Up and Away, which featured the lyrics, "If you'll hold my hand, we'll chase your dream across the sky."
The final show of the first series included a duet by Danni and Kylie Minogue singing the popular and successful feminist anthem Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves by the Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin.
While details of the new series' songs have been confirmed, Professor Stratton suggested a large majority of recent chart toppers will not suitable for the young cast and a family-viewing timeslot.
"If we're talking about 12 or 13-year-olds what are they going to be singing? There's a lot of R&B and hip hop material that you probably wouldn't want a 13-year-old to be singing, especially about 'bitches' and 'hoes' and going on one-night stands or thinking more recently of the latest Rihanna hit talking about 'let's drink to that'," he said.
"Shows like this are a good training ground for getting kids into the entertainment industry, but they are kids. It's a big move from being a kid in the TV, film and entertainment industries to being an adult in the entertainment industry. It's hard to make the transition and carve out a career."
Mr Young, who helped launch the careers of Tina Arena and Danni Minogue through the show, is optimistic about the revival and was moved to tears by some of the talent at the Perth auditions.
"There is a lot more talent and the bar is a little higher. The one big difference is that kids are so cool these days," he said.
"The standards have improved so much, because there is a lot more music on television, kids watch film clips, so they've got a much bigger understanding and they take it really seriously.
"Kids these days have got a really good understanding of lyrics, they're really music orientated. They've got it in their system, it's not in the way that it used to be where kids were singing straight laced songs, these kids are really interpreting the lyrics and understanding what they are singing, they are very sophisticated in many ways.
"I had tears streaming down my face while a little 10-year-old at the piano was singing like Diana Krall, it was just a really amazing reading of the song, wonderful voice quality and they have the most gorgeous faces, it's going to be an amazing program just to show what's happening now.
"The kids involved will understand choreography, they'll understand how television stations work, they'll understand production techniques and they'll have disciplines that they will be able to apply to their life."
Mr Young admitted that after years of discussions both he and the network are confident about the new series, which will be hosted by Australian Idol finalist and theatre star Rob Mills.
It will feature 10 regular members and plus weekly guests and side acts from all over the country, auditions will finish up in Sydney on October 3.
Young Talent Time will air on Channel Ten in January 2012.
