has anyone entered thier child in cute kid contests or tried modeling?

Question

i was just interested to see if anyone had done either or both and what were the results. how did you feel about entering your kids in to either? did you get any money from it and what did you do with it?
my cousin had her daughter in a few oreck vac ads and made good money that was put in to her savings fund.
thanks.

ps i'm not looking for negativity... no jon benet lectures. thanks.

Answer 1

PLEASE! do not use John Robert Powers, they will advertise these auditions and say that top exects from abc, disney, etc will be there...its a total scam, they try to sell you one of their acting class packages, which are way above worth it, and then they give you nothing...total scam!, we have however entered our daughter into some beauty pageants,(just so you know, most of those are scams too, held by moms and groups of mom but where we live they are pretty common, and cheap, and we just dress her up in a sunday best dress, she has won prettiest hair, smile, congeniality, and runner up, we don't do it for her to win though, or the crown, etc, (their not expensive, but what you pay you could just buy your own crown) anyway, as a kid, I was always soooo totally shy and quite, would literally almost fall into tears when I had to do a report in front of the class, etc, so I wanted to get her up in front of people from the beginning so she didn't have the same problem as me, and I'm glad to say it has worked....a little to well maybe, now she talks to everyone and anyone, but she is very sweet, and she likes to be up on the stage, and best...it really don't matter to her one way or another if she wins or not either, she just likes to get dressed up for the day and strut her stuff :), once we had put her in a fashion show that was being held at the mall....it was by a modeling company that was just starting out, they had the audience pick the top three winners, however, the owner of the agency decided that even though our child wasn't voted for, they wanted her anyway, it was one of the first legitimate contests, and auditions we have ever been too, the cost was nothing, they didn't ask us for anything, and she had fun, we signed with them for a year contract, but nothing ever came of it, the casting they always held were for older children or babies, but she did get to participate at their other fashion shows in the surrounding areas as one of their models, she has alot of fun. I think as long as its all it is ....fun, then its okay, it very hard to get anyone especially children into the big scene of commercials and movies, and again...most beauty pageants for kids are pretty much scams, but if they are made to be fun, then they can be just that for a little girl, pretty dresses, hair, princess for a day fun.

Answer 2

All I can offer is that I finally was talked into looking into it. Beyond the costs of photos and getting represented, you're essentially committing your life to this as long as the kids are "working". I was told it's normal to get a call at 10:00am to be in LA by noon (which for me would leave about 15 minutes to be ready and leave the house), for which you could easily sit there all day and nothing happen. The point is, if you work, it's not possible.

It's also very impractical for the kids IMO - my daughter's classmate gets pulled out of school at least once a week for these auditions, and is forever behind in school and doing makeup work at home. I admit he's very bright - but another child could easily fall behind.

This wouldn't work for us, and for what I want to teach my daughter. But it may be different in other cities - I'm in So Cal.

Answer 3

I entered my daughter in a prettiest baby contest when she was about 1 year old, we just sent photos in to the paper, no makeup or garbage like that, just natural. She won and we were proud of course, but I never would have entered her in a real pageant or forced her to compete in something of that nature, that would not have been fair to her since she would have been to young to be a part of the decision. I do not think much of pageants and such because I think for the most part they are exploitatious and accentuate the wrong things in a person.

Answer 4

My Brother-in-law produced TV commercials for a while. He says child modeling is very hard on kids and parents. Kids are expected to be be miniature adults with the same patience and discipline.
Also, to make it as a child model you need a professional photo portfolio and an agent. (which translates into big $$$)

Lastly...do you have time to drag your kid to almost every casting call and modeling agency? Exposure is the only way to get noticed and you won't get it if you aren't willing to devote a lot and time and energy your child's success.

Answer 5

naturally I thought my daughter was beautiful. I entered her in beauty pagents and she done very well. she was in local pagents one at Wal-mart she came in 3rd place ( a boy took the title) and she was in the Cinderella pagent she came in second ( alot of money for mommy to be proud for a few minutes LOL) and then there was the pagents where she did not even place only one. That is something that I found out early on that it was for me not her and I quit , however I have a friend who put her daughter in them through the 12 grade and she loved it (her mom said) the girl never appeared very happy to me too concerned about her appearence to be happy inside.

Answer 6

I put my kids into modeling/acting school, not just because they are cute, but because it helps promote good self esteem and great public speaking skills. It's something that will last their whole life. And if they get modeling jobs out of it, that's even better, but we aren't focusing on that.

Answer 7

I entered my daughter into the 'Face of Calpol' competition, but nothing came of it, didn't even get to the shortlist...but I didn't get any money for it.