Child Modelling - do you think its a good thing or bad?

[bosscatsroastingonanopenfire]

I ask because this is a topic i had absolutely no opinion on until yesterday. I had dinner with a cousin who told me her son (2) had been registered with a modelling agency. He has had loads of work etc and they are all over the moon. To say they were slightly obsessed about it would be an understatement. I found that I just could not be enthusiastic about it and I felt really uncomfortable. They feed him low fat food so he won't put on weight he gets dragged round every thursday to castings. I couldn't help but think to myself "what on earth does this child get out of this?". I'm sure they thought my silence meant I was desperately jealous that my two haven't been snapped up but I honestly felt really sorry for my cousins child and wondered if this was really a healthy environment for him to be exposed to at such a young age.

What do you think?

The bit about low fat food for a 2 year old is very alarming

sorry bosscats

its just that...well..have you seen that baby modelling thread?

btw no I don't think its at all healthy

lolololol Enid

no! no I haven't. typical, I should have archived this first. I found myself blurting out stuff through the night to dh like "they give him weightwatchers meals FFS".

No I do not agree with it. Everyone likes to think that their children are beautiful, but what about those whose children are not so beautiful, or those whose children have disfigurements? I hate it when children are taught to attain for perfection, what kind of message is that? To say that one child is beautiful over another is just disgusting imo. I think it teaches vainity and self-obsession. Also I really don't think that children particularly enjoy being dragged around from photo-shoot to photo-shoot with some of them taking up half a day! What time have they left just to be children?

I don't like it and that is all I will say! I can see this thread becoming very popular and nasty.

low fat food! That is dreadful. I think you should tell them how harmful that could be for the poor mite.

WEIGHTWATCHERS MEALS FOR A 2 YR OLD

pleaae tell me you are joking

omg

PARP

message to self: STEP AWAY from this thread

ooh, budge up - I'd like some popcorn too

I think it all depends on if the child enjoys it... I find piles of ballet rehersals horrifying, but the children doing it seem to love it.

Low fat food is just wrong though - a child should be innocent as possible, and getting them hung up on looks so early is wrong.

I remember a thread about someone's daughter wanting to know what was "wrong" with them because they hadn't had any work for a while

I considered it when DD was teeny, purely because up until about 2 she was a poser and loved any camera, but decided it was far too much hassle, and that I didn't really want someone telling me if my baby was pretty enough for them or not.

That was anice pointless ramble

Can I have my popcorn now please?

I can get why you might think child modelling is nice in a feeling pride at seeing them in the mothercare catalogue sort of way, but I'm not comfortable at the idea of children becoming aware of pressure/rejection. Am horrified at them putting their 2 year old on a diet. I don't think the kids get much at all out of this; sure they get a bit of attention and hopefully a smiley photographer, and money for their bank account when older but I think the parents get rather more out of it than the child.

Bosscat, as a rational mother of 2 kids who do do some modelling I think your cousin is slightly unhinged/mad/obsessed. She is treating her son like a commodity rather than like a child, feeding him unhealthy (for a child) food - she needs to read Middle Class Malnutrician articles that explain the dangers of low fat, high fibre, sugar free diets for kids.

This is NOT the way that ALL mothers treat modelling with their kids, but unfortuneatly it is that way for a lot of mums. As Enid says see the baby modelling thread. Some of those comments make you want to weep

For the record my kids have been on a total of 2 castings in their lives (we were on a job around the corner) DD1 did about 4 jobs last year, dd2 one or two. We kept turning them down as they didn't fit into our lives now the kids are 4 and 6. However we do keep them on the books as they do enjoy it as a rare treat out and we combine it with a fun day in London for them.

FGS. When there are so many activities that you can do with your child for free, that enlarge the mind, nourish the soul, expand the horizons and are just plain fun, it is BONKERS to drag them round bloody baby modelling agencies.

And as for the low fat food bit - well, words fail me.

totally agree with rhubarb..low fat meals for a 2 year old FFS? I purposely didn't read that other very long thread as I just knew it would set me off!
pushy parents are a real problem and the people who always suffer are the poor kids!

rhubarb, I used to work for various different companies that used child models. There were loads of beautiful children that got rejected as they didn't fit the company profile. I never understood why parents did it at such a young age tbh. It is boring, there is loads of waiting around, the studios are hot and tiring for little ones and the money wasn't brilliant either. Parents of children rejected by agencies may then feel that their kids aren't as beautiful as other children and that is desperately sad.

BTW both of my DD's are skinny minnies, DD1 was premature and finds it hard to put on weight, so for me her 'healthy' diet includes loads of sweets

some children I taught did modelling, but it seemed "in perspective", children and parents not obsessed.

It's the restricted low fat diet bit that makes me

We were appraoched in the street by an Agent for models one (quite a big agency) for ds when he was 3, he was and is an extremely beautiful child
I did ring the lady and asked what it would involve, when she told me I tought F* right off, putting a 3 yr old through that
Never
But each to their own

I know a mum whose kids model, and she seems a pretty sensible unobsessed type.

yes I will add that we worked with some lovely mums and kids who were very down to earth and professional about it so I did see both sides. But the castings were dreadful and my boss was often really brutal to the parents 'He won't get any work looking like that, the agency must be mad, he looks like a girl' was one comment I have never forgotten. I busied myself in the kitchen till the parents left I was so humiliated for them.

I am absolutely NOT joking. The WW spaghetti bol one apparently. The thing is I just can't get my head around how they think he is benefitting from this. Even long term successful models say they would never let their kids do it. Can they honestly think this is something he could pursue as an adult? Why would they want this for him? Even if you thought modelling was a fabulous career which I don't, it ends around age 35 FGS if you are lucky. The money they are making isn't that fantastic and are they squirrelling it away for a University fund? Nope, they are using it to take him to Disney World in the summer. If they drone on about this to me again I am going to HAVE to say "look I'm sorry I just don't approve so I can't be enthusiastic about this", point out the worries about the low fat food and hope they stop telling me about it.

Oh and my kids would NEVER have been rejected, they are FAR too beautiful Enid

bosscats that is exactly what I would do

swift hijack bosscats - still up for coffee (we seem to have spent about the last six months not quite managing coffee). I'm busy this Friday, but should be around next week.

Crunchie, that sounds a sensible way to go about it.

I find the other child modelling thread on here quite scary.