Big Brother Family, already mired in controversy before its launch on March 22 2010 because of the inclusion of children in the show, is being targeted by MPs for Bulgaria's ruling party, who want the law changed to bar children from taking part in reality television shows.

Five children are taking part in Big Brother Family. According to the show's official website, the oldest boy is seven, along with a boy aged six, two girls aged four and the youngest one, also a girl, is only two-and-a-half years old.

Joining in objections to the show from child protection groups, the MPs want action taken.

The decision was initiated by GERB MPs Daniela Mitkova, Dian Chervenkondev and Yoanna Kirova, who want the law changed so that children under 18 will be barred from participation, as part of an amendment to the Radio and Television Act.

The politicians say that the existing loophole in current legislation which allows children to be in such shows has to be fixed, because of the devastating psychological impact on the children such participation can have, Bulgarian mass-circulation daily 24 Chasa reported on March 26 2010.

"It is abnormal for children aged from two to seven years old to be featured in such shows. They will not learn anything of substance or value whatsoever. On the contrary, they will find themselves immersed in an artificial environment, resembling a tribe, where people who have no relation to one another will interact continuously," Kirova was quoted as saying by 24 Chasa.

"Such situations stir conflicts and disagreements, and children exposed to such conflicts will bear that out in their future relationships," she added.

The new edition of Big Brother, aired on Nova Televisia, is scheduled to continue for three months, with the winning family poised to bag 200 000 leva in prize money, an apartment and a car. In a break with previous practice, contestants will be paid salaries for participation, whether or not they win.

But in a house that features a former Playboy model in the face of Kristianna Leomanni who will undeniably spend considerable amount of time (along with everyone else) wearing next to nothing, the argument of the MPs and child protection groups is that at this age, children absorb everything like sponges and cannot differentiate reality from fiction. And that could have unpredictable consequences.

Certainly the children are there with their parents who are supposed to protect and "shield" them, and the opposing arguments are that in real life, children witness conflicts and arguments anyway.

But Mitkova is certain that the decision to have them included is wrong. She says that the children were not asked if they wanted to participate in the show in the first place and by doing so, they were torn from their friends and natural environment.

"I am a parent and I am certain they should not participate. They can't arrive at their own opinion, but are instead confronted with different families, relationships, behaviourial traits – factors which obstruct their natural upbringing," she said.

A Facebook site set up by Sofia University staff member Miglena Lalova and entitled, in translation, I am against the involvement of children in Big Brother 5, quotes the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and has more than 5000 members, including foreign citizens resident in Bulgaria. An online petition against the show has been set up on bgpetition.com.

Earlier in February, Kalin Kamenov from the State Agency for Child Protection said that objections to the show have been raised in official channels by the agency’s deputy chairperson, and were presented at a hearing before Parliament’s committee on culture, civil society and the media.

Sections of Bulgaria's media have been following the show avidly, reporting to their readers, for example, an incident in which one child "shoplifted" from the in-house shop on the show.