PSA: If you're considering putting your kid in a talent agency pool to become an actor, please make sure it's what they want first. Or just don't.

Edit: I am a parent. I'm posting this because I'm a parent and it was something that concerned me. Sorry mods for not making that clear enough in the initial post.I work for an ad agency that does a lot of commercials, so we do a lot of casting. Sometimes these castings involve children. We saw about 20-25 kids yesterday who had to pretend they were part of a 4-person family with actors playing the mom and dad. Most of the kids were between 7 and 8, though there were a few 5 and 6 year olds. In these situations, the kids go into the casting room while the parents wait outside. As the production assistant tried to coax a performance out of them, I kept finding myself just feeling kind of bad for them. Most were uncomfortable, fidgety, and didn't understand the direction they were being given.Before each audition, an actor is required to state their full name and age to the camera. Most of the really little kids just stood there frozen and couldn't seem to state their last name. In the audition, we needed to know if they were comfortable acting with adults, so older actors would grab them, kiss them on the head or put them on their shoulders (as parents would). It was nothing inappropriate, but I couldn't help but think that if it were my child in here without me, I wouldn't want them to be handled like that by anyone except his family. It's weird. So many of those kids looked uncomfortable and one even said: "but that's not my dad" when he was told to treat one of the actors like his father.One 5-year old boy was so shy that he refused to stand in front of the camera and spent the audition hiding in a corner. I wanted to comfort him, tell him he didn't have to do it and just go find his parents to tell them he doesn't want to be an actor and he's not their meal ticket to financial freedom. I wanted to tell them he'd be better off just doing kid things like play sports or go to summer camp. But I'm aware that I'd have no right to say that to them or tell someone specifically how to raise their kid. So that's why I'm sharing this story.If you understand where I'm coming from and feel the same way, but maybe you're thinking about having your child join a talent agency or know someone who's thinking about it because you think your kids can "make it" as actors, please think about that shy little boy for a moment and be sure it's something they really want to do. Kids will often say yes just to please their parents. It doesn't always mean that's how they actually feel. And frankly, that's not to mention the ridiculous amount of rejection and judgement that goes into the casting process. That kind of thing can destroy a kid's self-esteem.​ via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2NymaXH