How not to exploit child talents

Viewers concerned about the exploitation of children in show business got an informative earful from Tyra Banks on a telecast of her show that featured some stage mothers and their little kids, all aspiring juvenile performers.

The in-depth feature showed how, even in the United States, some child talents are exploited by their parents, who profess to love them but push them too hard to achieve, not the kids’ but their dreams of fame and fortune.

Hapless offspring

In quite a number of instances, the incisive feature revealed, the mother-managers or “momagers” were failed starlets in their own youth, so they pressured or even forced their hapless offspring to achieve the stardom that they weren’t able to attain.

Interviewed separately, the child talents revealed that they sometimes felt miserable, because they were made to work when all they wanted to do was play with friends. They also had to take a lot of workshops aside from their usual schoolwork, so they lacked rest and sleep.

Some of the “momagers” admitted that their kids made money to pay for their families’ expenses—a “contribution” that, Tyra stressed, should never be required of little children, who should be supported by their parents, not the other way around!

Corollary problems

Granted, some of the child talents enjoyed performing, but Tyra insisted that their parents shouldn’t use this as an excuse for turning their kids into their families’ breadwinners! Whatever money they make should instead be put into a trust fund that the kids should have access to when they’re of age.

Other corollary problems emerged, including the feelings of the young talents’ siblings, who often resented the fact that their parents paid scant attention to them because they were focused on their performer-kids’ careers.

Tyra pointed out that the healthiest child-parent relationship for kids in show biz is for the parents not to manage their children’s careers, but to focus on the parenting aspect.

They can hire professionals to do the managing for them, so work-related stresses won’t adversely affect the personal relationships involved.

Scale down plans

In addition, child psychologists advised parents of child talents to take their cue, not from their dreams and hopes for their children, but from the kids’ wishes for themselves.

If a talented child is passionate about, and completely focused on performing, his parents should support his career all the way. But if kids want to perform only occasionally, as happy amateurs, their parents should correspondingly scale down their plans—and stop dreaming of professional stardom for their children! That’s the bottom line.