As a Current/Future Parent, would you allow your children to try out for the show American Idol?

Question

The television show American Idol is hit phenomenon where some average American becomes a superstar. I have noticed from the past seasons that a lot of contestants who do not make it past the judges (Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson) during auditions, and therefore get angry because they believe that they are a superstar.
My question is, as a Current or Future Parent, would you allow your child or children to try out for the television show American Idol knowing that they could become a success or be told off about their musical singing for all of America (and the world) to laugh at?

Answer 1

well, only the parents of those under 18 would have say legally as one is conssidered an adult at 18, but parents can still give their advice and comments despite age.

If i was someone other than myself, I would only do so if they were extremely talented and others thought so too and if they had the confidence to be able to handle the criticism and were not higly senstive or obsessive types by nature.

But being the person I am, I do not value money and neither do my kids. I would not want them in the limelight like that. Reading the stuff on the message boards alone would devastate me as there are very cruel things being said about all contestants no matter how nice the contestant might be. Being on the show might corrupt what they valued, although it seems some of the fellow contestants in past seasons have been of high character and good examples, it is more the producer and the whole industry's lower character and out of whack emphasis on money etc.

I would worry my child's self worth would be deminished and I worked hard to be sure my children had strong self worth as as a teacher and parent, I believe it helps them withstand negative peer pressure and would not want this effort undermined.

I would if they loved a highly competitive field (for instance, my son was an excellent artist winning the 2nd highest scholarship to art college and I encouraged him though I personally worried about the competition and difficulty finding a job but I did not have his condidence--I trusted in him and wanted him to do work he wanted and loved) I would encourage them to do what they loved, but not that particular path of achieving it. Take the harder old fashioned way making a living in singing if considering trying out for idol, but would wish for achievement not at the top level as I feel wealth corrupts a lot of people, but at a lower level of success. They don't have to be treated like idols. It's too big and they lose their privacy too much. So, no, I would not encourage them..

If they went anyway, I would be supportive and try to encourage them and advise them to the best of my ability. If they made it to Hollywood, especially top 12, I would seek counseling to handle the awful things people would say on the message boards as I am sure I would not have the will power to be able to not read what people said and would be devasted by the comments people (who can be very cruel)and I take everything personally so I would need counseling to handle all this.

I met Scott Savol's family (they were so nice) and they said they were devastated by the mean things said on the boards and had to stop reading them.

I believe his mother (acccording to things posted on Scott and Cathy's myspace) and family are very upset as her/their encouragement of having Scott try out (as she told me she originally wanted him to increase his chances of finding singing gigs in Cleveland) led to that she didn't want which is Scott ignoring their advice and wishes and moving to Nashviile or somewhere with his new wife to further the chances of his career succeeding. I believe the family is upset now that they will not have him around as much...so the show definitely impacted the family...forever and their access to future grandchildren and their son.

Life's hard enough without all the complication. I may get a house from my son if he makes it big, but losing him to fame and the trade off is not worth it (selfish I know).

That mom whose son was a juggler, I can understand how

1. embarrassed she was when he ran out cussing up a blue streak and then

2. upset to see him devasted and sobbing like that. In her effort to comfort him when he said "I wanted to be famous" and she said "you will be"..is an example of why the mistakeningly guy tried out in the first place..I am sure he would not take no for an answer and nagged all the time to be allowed to try out and they didn't have the strength to say no. Better for her to have said "I know you id" when he said I wanted to be fammous than you will be which is more likely more of the invertate lying which led him to think he was real talented in the first place.

She was not being honest with him for fear of hurting her child's feelings and devastate him she now has to pick of the pieces of what Simon and trying out did to him. i am not trying to criticize her, just observing. She probably didn't look that far ahead and didn't know what to say, but to say that you weill be (famous) was the wrong thing to say..hopefully, she will do better when not under pressure later when she has time to think.

Answer 2

First of all as a parent you have to be honest with your child. If the kid stinks at singing, mabey put that audition off for a year or two and get them into a vocal class or two.

Secondly, as a musician, I can say though the comments are BRUTAL, they mostly aren't far off from the harsh and over dramatized truth. This is obviously TV, if it weren't for the drama, there would be no show. Though people hate the 3 judges, they are music professionals and I find myself agreeing with their final decision most of the time.

Lastly, if your child is too sensitive to take the criticism, they would not make it far in the music or any entertainment industry where they are in the spotlight anyways unless they were not anything short of 100% pure talent.

Any discussion board you go on about music, popular bands and solo artists have total strangers giving their opinion and tearing these people apart from their musical talent to their choice of hairstyle. These are celebrities, they are under the microscope, and there is a certian amount of self-confidence and tough skin that is required for super star status.

Answer 3

I think I would if they had prepared over time and therefore had a better chance than the average schmuck who can sing in the shower but has no business trying to pass off as a trained vocalist.

Answer 4

Yes. They need to learn how to put themselves out there. No matter what scale it is (school try outs or national try outs.) Whether they make it on television or not this would be a wonderful experience for them to go through. American Idol gets tens of thousands of auditioners and only a small handful make it on television. It doesn't matter what happens, as long as it happens.

Answer 5

Really, it depends on their age and their commitment to music. If one of my children was musically inclined and worked very hard developing their skill throughout the years then I would defiantly consider letting him/her try out. If they just thought they'd try out for the heck of it, I wouldn't.

I feel at the age of sixteen kids are capable of making *some career moves, therefore, like I said I would allow them to try out under the circumstance that they were already committed to music BEFORE learning of the show.

Answer 6

No, absolutely not, Simon does not know how to talk to people, he belittles people, he makes people cry, I hate seeing that. So no I would never want anyone I love to be humiliated on any type of show like that, we don't even allow that kind of show in our house. It is a very demeaning and painful show to watch, definately not funny to us. Sorry. Even the people we thought were good weren't good enough for that Simon person.

Answer 7

HA HA HA! Good Question! Luckily I'm Canadian and our "Idol" is not as brutal on the wack jobs.

HOWEVER, to answer your question, if I KNEW my child was talented I would let him/her (don't know sex for another week) go. Otherwise, I would not allow my child to make a fool out of themselves on TV like that.

Answer 8

Yes I would depending on their age and their maturity level, however I would have to have a lengthy discussion with them about the probability of actually making it.

Answer 9

I would only if I really truly believed that he/she could make it otherwise I would not because it would be horrible to see them get rejected for everyone to see.

Answer 10

i would only allow my kids to try out if they could actually *sing*!
i've seen too many people on there who have no business opening their mouths.