Dear Diane,
We think our six-year-old girl is very pretty and other people have said so too. I’d like to sign her up for modelling or acting. She has a friend who does these things and has a very healthy bank account for her tertiary education. Do you think it’s good for children or, as my mother has said, that kids shouldn’t need to “work”.
Wiki, via email
Dear Wiki,
It is wonderful that your daughter is so pretty and you should feel free to enjoy having a child so genetically advantaged. Although child acting and modelling sounds exotic – and a healthy bank account is very attractive – your daughter will not only need the right look, she will need to have the right nature. She will also need to be able to obediently repeat the same action many, many times and be good at waiting around with nothing much going on. Another consideration is your daughter’s education. If she is doing well at school and learns easily and well, missing school will not make a difference.
She will also need to make friends easily and be able to “slide” in and out of social groups. A last consideration should be her resilience. Child acting and modelling is an area where it is possible to go from “hero to zero” overnight. If most of the negatives I have listed don’t seem a major consideration, give it a go. The potential to have an exciting and interesting experience is there and whether she gets one shoot or has a whole career, she will have some delightful memories (rather than “work”) to look back on.
Diane Levy provides expert answers to your parenting queries. Send your questions to: [[email protected]](mailto: [email protected]). Diane’s parenting books are available in book shops.
