Those experiences indicated that a formal structure would inhibit freshness and spontaneity, so she chose to use unrehearsed discussions on the broadcasts.
[9] Topics of discussions included allowances, friends, lying, older siblings, privileges, secrets,[5] babies, death, God, jealousy, teachers, and playing hooky,[1] Lawrence K. Frank, director of the Caroline Zachry Institute of Human Development, wrote a commentary after each broadcast that "analyzes the children's conversations, stresses points which tend to make conflicts between children and adults, and sugggests ways in which adults might treat similar situations which arise between them and children.
[7] Media critic John Crosby wrote, "the kids are astonishlingly literate in these discussions and painfully frank, indicating that Miss Parkhurst is something of a genius at opening up children".
[4] Will Jones commented in the Minneapolis Morning Tribune that Parkhurst "seemed to guide the discussion with a bit too heavy a hand", but even so, "the program had a candid, refreshing quality".
[14] Ohio State University's Institute for Education by Radio in May 1949 designated Child's World for special recognition in the Public Affairs Programs, Talks and Discussions category of its annual awards.
Bessie Lee Gambrill, associate professor of elementary education at Yale, said that graduate students of child development were interested in "Miss Parkhurst's unusual skill in getting children to talk freely about their reactions to experiences".
[18] Students of programming and production in the university's radio department studied the recordings "as an example of a successful ad-lib discussion series".
[18] A TV version of Child's World debuted on ABC on November 1, 1948 with a format similar to that of the radio program.
In January 1949 it was moved to Wednesdays from 7:15 to 7:30 p.m. E. T.[21] In 1951 Appleton-Century-Crofts published Parkhurst's book Exploring the Child's World, which drew "heavily upon actual conversations in the broadcasts".