Child modelling in Ireland

Hugh_C

Arising out of an admonishment from a photography forum mod and a suggestion that this might be the place, I'm going to pose the question here.

Do you think that parents who put their kids forward for child modelling are doing the right thing?

Personally, I have issues with these parents (not the kids) hot-housing their offspring and allowing them develop world-views that are distorted and unrepresentative of the real world at large. Kids at that age are hugely malleable and easy to influence and personally I haven't met a kid who has come through the process unscathed.

Any opinions?

HC

smelltheglove

Hugh as this was my post that started this maybe I should give you a bit of input on my opinion.

First of all I won't vote for either I would be more in between.

I have met someone who came out of it fine, she won a child model of the year competition and no bother to her at all. She has no interest in it now, she stopped modelling when she was still a child and that was that. I also knew Glenda Gilson as a child and she loved the attention she got from modelling.

On the other hand.... I have an extremely beautiful daughter, tall, blonde, blue eyes, I often get asked why she isnt modelling. I believe she is so beautiful she should be on posters every where but I am her mammy. It is not for her though, she is shy and quiet and likes to be around people she knows. Of that I am actually quite glad as I would not want to see her taken advantage of in anyway, she needs to enjoy herself and she would not enjoy that, she wants to be a doctor or a vet.

On the for side, my other dd, like my nephew who's pictures you commented on, is a stage person. My husband and his family are performers, he himself in music. It is in their blood, there is no doubt about it. I always thought parents pushed their children too hard into some things until my second dd came along. She dresses herself up in her sisters clothes, she will be 2 next week so you see how early she has started, and she gets my camera and asks for a cheese. Like her cousin and daddy she loves to sing, she would stand in a crowd and sing her little heart out, she will proudly talk to anyone as long as mammy is near her and is without a doubt going to be interested in some sort of entertainment when she is older like her daddy and the rest of his family.

So overall my opinion would be it depends on the child. I hugely disagree with a parent pushing a child into doing something like this for any other reason than it is what the child wants to do. For an example like my first dd, I completely disagree, it would destroy her, she would hate it and be so upset but for second dd MAYBE as she would love it, I say maybe as I don't know how I will feel if and when she asks but I would not bring her to an agency unless she wanted to go.

JohnK

I think you could make the argument that anything at all is bad for kids be it modelling or sports or singing or dancing or performing etc. Like smelltheglove said, in the end it just depends on the childs personality, what they want and the experience they have with it.