No doubt about it, some families have been faced with some tough times during our recession. The jobless rate keeps rising causing many children to claim homeless status or opt out of extracurricular activities. So what if their beauty or talent could earn the family a roof over their heads or pay for their schooling? It seems many moms and pops are turning to their tots to help foot the bill. Mothers who might not normally enter their babe into a modeling competition are taking head shots and driving to auditions with dreams of childhood stardom. While some criticize the parents for putting their babies to task, others say the actions are harmless and even beneficial. What say you?
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Would You Enlist Your Child's Talent to Pay the Bills?
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well no, I would not put a baby in show business. If she wanted to audition for a professional play or something at age 7 I guess I would let her.
Some kids love stuff like that. I would not pay the bills with it though, it would go into a
trust fund for her.
1I wouldn't. I know some child stars grow up to be relatively normal, but how many don't? If my daughter wants to act, she can do local productions, she doesn't have to go to Hollywood or Broadway to do it.
2And truthfully - how many of these babies and children are going to make much money?
Depends on the scale. A global scale? No. But doing some modeling or commercials, sure. It's a relatively small amount of time and doesn't rob them of their privacy and time to be a child. If anything, it actually gives them more kid time because tutors are often provided, which makes school time shorter since it's more efficient, leaving more time for the child to pursue other activities.
3And for the record, you can't use it "to pay the bills." As a parent, you can be considered their handler and receive a small portion of their earnings, but the bulk of it has to go into their own account for their own use once they're of legal age. Laws will vary state by state, but they're getting stronger every year.
4I apologize for spamming, but I forgot one other thing - if you read the linked article, it's not about parenting paying their household bills, it's mostly about supplementing a college fund for the children doing the work.
5It's a tough issue. I don't like the idea of a child being made to support the entire family; that, to me, is unethical. If it's something like a commercial here or there, then that money should be used to cover the child's education rather than pay Mummy and Daddy's expenses.
Besides, those talent shows and pageants often cost 3 or 4x the money that the child MIGHT win as a prize. It doesn't sound financially feasible in the long term.
6"I don't like the idea of a child being made to support the entire family; that, to me, is unethical."
It's not just unethical, it's actually illegal. In every state, as far as I know. If a child earns the money, only a certain portion of it can go to the family as a whole, the rest has to be put in a fund. For instance, even the Gosselin kids have their own accounts by law because they earn their own income by performing for the cameras, and Jon and Kate can't touch that money.
It would be highly unlikely that the average child doing print work or commercials could support a family on the percentage of income that's allowed to be spent.
7I wouldn't force my kid to do anything, it would be his/her choice on any extracurricular activity.
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