When you have a kid there’s this weird thing that happens.
No, I’m not talking about how suddenly your body resembles a deflated balloon or how regular bodily functions become scary (cross legged sneezes for the win).
I’m talking about how you stare at your little bundle of sweet goodness and you just know that they are THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BABY IN THE WHOLE FREAKING WORLD.
You’re probably wondering, so I’ll quickly confirm – this phenomena is just amplified when you have more kids because you’re like, “we hit the baby jackpot – all our kids are just so freaking adorable!”
We’ll temporarily ignore the fact that we might just be the tiniest bit biased.
Sometimes we hope that other people join in on our bias and confirm our suspicions. And then when that’s happened enough times, you sit down and wonder if you should get them into modelling. It’s kind of inevitable. Even if you brush the thought off after a few minutes, I’m pretty sure 99% of parents have had it.
We traveled that road. Riya did a couple of shoots for Sticky Fudge and then when she kept asking, (months later) when she’d be doing it again, we realised that we should probably get them into an agency. So I asked around and eventually settled on Kids Inc. Lovely people and very organised.
Within a week she was asked to work with two rather large brands – both of which I turned down because she was sick. But then the opportunity to shoot for another beauty company popped up. I checked with her and she jumped up and down with excitement, so I confirmed the shoot.
Pre-shoot we had to pop in for a clothing fitting the day before. She refused to sit for any pictures. I really should have seen it as a sign, but after about 5 minutes she warmed up and was fine so I figured she was just (understandably) a bit nervous.
The next day we arrived at the shoot to find that she was the “back up model”. This means that they have their main model, but when they get tired or over it (as 4 year olds tend to do), then they could switch to the “back up” and carry on shooting – using which ever pictures turned out the best.
Sounds great.
So we sat and we waited. And we waited and we waited. The main model was pretty resilient and did everything that they asked of her. Until she didn’t. Then Ri was expected to get dressed, have her hair done AND pretend that this strange (beautiful model) woman was her mother – all in the space of 5 minutes.
Say what now?
I don’t know if you’ve been around kids much, but forcing them into a situation like this in such a short time frame and not letting them warm up to the other models that they are supposed to work with is just really just setting them up for failure.
I probably don’t need to say that she didn’t warm up at all. Not even with bribes, uh, I mean promises of Spur milkshakes and pasta. She was having none of it. So after 5 minutes they gave up and got the main model back and continued the shoot.
She was disappointed in the end and honestly so was I. She’d done so well with the other shoots that I thought she was a natural at this. I guess I was reserving a bit of parenting pride for an amazingly well done shoot, I mean who wouldn’t want their kid to do well at something like this? Even though I really never forced this on her at all, it’s been a bit of a learning curve for me. They say you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink? Well the same applies to kids and modeling, you can book amazing clients but not make them do anything at all really.
And so she has decided that she never, ever wants to do this ever again.
Sigh.
It’s not all doom and gloom though.
Kids are funny things, they’ll take a couple of months to process it all and then be back and ready to do it all again, so I’m not completely closing the door on this for her, or for Kyla and Knox (whom I have also submitted with the agency in case you’re wondering).
If you’re looking to get your kids into modelling here’s what you should consider:
- Are they naturally camera shy when you are taking pictures of them or are they happy to be asked to smile/dance/just look at the camera? If they’d prefer to stay out of pictures even when you’re the photographer, then maybe modelling is not really for them.
- Get them a bank account and register them for TAX. Trust me on this. You need this first, because doing it the other way around is just a flipping lass.
- Find a good agency that looks after your children, that has their well being at heart.
- Kids are kids and they can’t be forced to act like grown ups – try not to make them feel pressured into anything.
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15 comments
LOL! I related to this story on so many levels!
I was hesitant about getting Ava into modelling, but like you said, after enough people had commented on her looks and suggested it, I chatted to her and we decided why not?
We did one shoot and it was HELL! She was totally uncooperative! She wouldn’t let them using curling irons on her hair, she didn’t want to wear the dress that was chosen for her, she wouldn’t allow the photographer to shoot her, they had to measure up the dimensions, leave the studio and I had to click the camera. It was a total mare. For both her and I and we decided never ever again!
I think I remember reading this on your blog a while back. It’s so funny how they suddenly just decide “oh hell no” and then it all just implodes after that!
Loved this post…I have thought about getting Aidan into modeling but not much call for it in PE also when I try to get him to pose for my own brand he runs away screaming so maybe not 🙂
It’s so difficult, but who knows, maybe in a couple of years he’ll love to post with all your cool products (loved the matching scarves!!)
I’m not surprised that things did not go smoothly, Nicky also gets sick of too many pics these days…
We’ve brought ours up with my camera in their face like, all the time. They are so fine when I’m doing it, just not when it’s anyone else haha
Ah shame, poor little angel – amazing how one day they are up for it and so excited and the next day it’s a no go!! Hopefully she will change her mind again soon. She is one beautiful little model x
I’m sure she will. Last year she declared that she never ever wanted a birthday party ever again, so she’s kind of fickle like that 😉
My twins and Steven were models. Steven only once for a German ad which we never got to see. The girls were models before he came along and we also had to bribe with lollipops. So I too can relate. They were happy, smiley and identical and everyone suggested I get them into modelling. I also got an agent to handle them and they needed identical twins for a shoot for woollies and another for Ackermans. They landed both of the jobs. but on the day of the Ackermans one, after waiting for 3 hours my 2 18 month olds were tired and hungry and not interested in being happy, smiley babies anymore. After a bribe we got it done. I was dreading the Woollies one which was 3 weeks later but that went like a dream.
Ha we have also had an experience of this. Rachel did a little TV commercial last year and absolutely loved it! I was nervous at first but she’s a natural performer and she follows instructions very well. And totally agree about opening a bank account and registering for tax first – we have deposited her money in there and she is very proud of her “credit card”;)
We were approached by 3 agencies when I was younger – and we just decided not to do it. No many will make up for what I think is the pressure, the focus on looks and the hard hitting refusals. We may have acted a bit too protective, but so be it. She still gets many comments about her beauty and dancers body (and length to be honest) but we will relook this around 14, 15 when she can decide herself
I also thought of signing Kai up, but after doing all the research I gave it a miss. Sounds like hard work for the child and parent and often at very short notice. Maybe if someone approaches us I’ll consider, you never know. So many people think my son is a girl lol!
Hahah! I can totally relate. Nate is also such a striking kid, and people often ask about shooting him. (The picture kind, not the gun kind). Thing is, he’s a total introvert. Takes aaaaaaages to warm up to new people. So while he’s super eager to please, always, and is very good about doing what he’s told, I can’t ever imagine him loving performing in front of the camera. Maybe they’ll grow into it?
I prep them now and check if they want to, if they do – we go to the casting, if they not keen then we don’t go. We have our first one since this episode next week – we’ll see how it goes!
I totally relate with you. Matthew was back up for a shoot for 4 days 7-1. What long long days they were x yikes x