Should You Take Music or Dance Lessons If You Want to Become a Child Actor?

Music Lessons for Child Actors? (S Lee/Flickr)

If you have a child who wants to become a child actor, chances are that the child is also interested in music and perhaps dance. It is common for child actors to be gifted in the arts, so many children who become child actors also sing, dance, and play instruments.

I know in my daughter’s case, she was singing before she could really even talk. She started creating small plays and musicals and loved performing for family and friends before she turned two.  I knew she was destined to be involved in the arts.

My daughter may not choose acting or music or dance for her career as an adult, but I am sure she will always find ways to be involved with the arts for the rest of her life in one way or another.

Neglecting Other Skills to Concentrate on Acting

For a while, my daughter primarily concentrated on acting. She took scene study (acting) classes twice each week and had numerous acting auditions. Before auditions she typically had to get coaching. She also took an improv and comedy class and performed as part of Giggle Gaggle each week.

There was not much time for other activities besides acting. And we did not have much extra money to pay for her to do other things.

So my daughter did not take any music or dance lessons or participate in sports for a couple of years. In fact, she did not even learn to ride a bike until she was 8.  I think she missed out on a lot of other things that she liked to do or should have been doing while we concentrated, perhaps a little too much, on her acting. (See “What Skills Are Helpful When You Become a Child Actor?” for additional discussion on this topic).

She really missed doing all these other things that she loved and enjoyed.  And if I had it to do over, I would have made sure she did not give up her music activities or dancing and sports. I think continuing with those things would have been good for her.

She has just started taking some music lessons recently, but at the age of 13 she is getting a pretty late start. In this day and time, when kids often learn sports and seriously study dance and music at a very early age, it can be a little hard to catch up with those who have been studying for years!

So, “Should You Take Music or Dance Lessons If You Want to Become a Child Actor?”

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What Skills Are Helpful When You Become a Child Actor?

Learn to Play Guitar When You Become a Child Actor, Image via Wikipedia

When you become a child actor, it is important to work on your acting skills.  Being a good actor is certainly important when you pursue an acting career.

But when you become a child actor, it is also a good idea to work on other skills. Learning to do a variety of things helps you to become a better-rounded individual, with many different life experiences to draw from in your acting.

Possessing a variety of skills can also help make you more employable in the entertainment industry. Casting directors are sometimes looking for individuals with particular skills for a role in a television show, movie, play or other performance. If you have the required skills, you may be called in for auditions you might not otherwise be invited to attend.

We know a young and very talented piano player. After someone heard him accompanying a singer at a competition, he was invited to audition for a television show.  He wasn’t even trying to get into tv or film.

But this young man is great on the piano, and guess what! When he went in for that audition, he booked the job. So now he is appearing on the tv show Glee.

So when you become a child actor, what skills (besides acting, which is very important) are useful to you for a showbiz career?

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When You Become a Child Actor, How Do You Keep Up With Schoolwork?

If You Become a Child Actor, You Must Keep Up with Schoolwork, Image via Wikipedia

When you become a child actor, one of the hardest things to do is keep up with your schoolwork. If you (or your child) wants to become a child actor, you need to continuously train in acting and other related activities such as dancing and voice.

Often, there seems to be little time left for doing schoolwork.

When my daughter was young, missing a little school to go to auditions or coaching was seldom a big deal. Some teachers were more understanding than others. But still, making up the work was not much of a challenge, and the teachers/administrators rarely got upset about it.

But as my daughter has gotten older, it has become more difficult for her to miss class without sacrificing her grades and the respect of her teachers.  The teachers and administrators are less tolerant. They even make it more difficult to get work permit applications signed, even for children who are good students.

Also, the amount of homework assigned has increased significantly, making it more difficult to go to auditions.

My daughter is a good student, and she chooses schoolwork over acting on a regular basis. She is still involved in acting, but when she has to sacrifice one or the other, it is most often her acting career that takes a back seat to her academics. However, she does honor any commitments she makes related to her acting, music, and other activities.

As a parent, I am proud of her for this. How she does in school is likely to affect her for the rest of her life. And if she chooses not to continue acting as an adult, I want her to have other good options. I want her to be able to get into a good university. I also believe that following through with the commitments you make is important in becoming a responsible person.

We know many other young actors who have chosen to become homeschoolers or enroll in schools other than regular public schools in order to more easily pursue their show business careers.  This is a choice that parents and children will have to make together based on what works best for them and what best matches their goals and dreams in life.

This schoolwork vs. acting issue is a dilemma that every child (and the parents) face when considering what it takes to become a child actor.

So, “When You Become a Child Actor, How Do You Keep Up With Schoolwork?”

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What Does a Child Give Up to Become a Child Actor?

Image by respres/Flickr, Spend Hours in Traffic to Become a Child Actor

When we decided to help our daughter become a child actor, we did not think much about the cons of acting — instead we were focused on giving our daughter the opportunity to do what she seemed to enjoy most — entertaining others.

At the same time, helping her become a child actor seemed like an exciting and fun thing to do. And Los Angeles seemed like a cool place to be. (See “What Should You Do If Your Child Wants to Become a Child Actor?” and “Should You Move to Los Angeles for Your Child to Become a Child Actor?”  for more on this topic.)

As we started our journey into show business, we knew there would be some sacrifices, but it was not until we moved to L.A. and began auditioning that we started to really understand the sacrifices.

A Birthday Party

I remember one particular time when my daughter was 7, and she was invited to the birthday party of one of her best friends at school.  It was a pool party, and all of her friends were planning to be there. She was so excited that she could hardly think or talk about anything else.

An Audition

When the phone rang the day before the party, and it was her talent manager, my heart sank. As I feared, my daughter’s manager informed me of an audition scheduled at the same time as the birthday party.

It had been a while since my daughter’s last audition, and I knew I really needed to agree to it.

Perhaps I should have turned it down, but instead I asked if we could change to a later time.  I was able to postpone it for two hours, but it still meant she’d have to leave the party early.

I dreaded telling my daughter about the audition and wondered how I could get her to rehearse her lines, much less be cheerful and happy in the audition.

Changing Plans

When I told her, first she said “No, I am not going!”   She was very upset, but after a few minutes of thinking, she seemed to understand that it was something she needed to do. She immediately began working on learning the lines for the audition.

I still remember having to tell the mother of the birthday girl that we’d be leaving early for an audition. I also remember how she looked at me when I told her.  Most people really don’t understand about this sort of thing.

Doing What You Have to Do

When I arrived back at the party to pick up my daughter, she was in the pool laughing and playing with her friends, and I hated having to take her away from this.

I still remember how sad she looked when she saw me there. But she got out willingly, and then, amazingly, cheerfully left with me.

Making Plans is Difficult

This was only one of so many occasions when plans were made with friends and then had to be canceled due to auditions.  Sometimes I was almost afraid to make any plans for my daughter for fear of an audition resulting in us having to cancel.  I even started warning the parents whenever plans were made that if an audition came up we’d have to cancel.

Some of the other parents and I joked about it saying we needed to make plans to go somewhere if we wanted our child to get an audition.

Interference with plans made is just one of a number of things that a child has to deal with when they become a child actor.

Have you thought about what your child will give up to become a child actor?

“What does a child give up to become a child actor?”

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Will You Miss Your Family If You Move to L.A. for Your Child to Become a Child Actor?

Chau-Ram Park, (via turbojoe/Flickr), Leave Family to Become a Child Actor?

My two kids and I just returned from a two-week trip to South Carolina to visit our family.  We travel to South Carolina twice each year to visit family ever since we moved to L.A. for our daughter to become a child actor.

The thing I’ve struggled with most after moving to L.A. for my daughter to become a child actor was leaving all our family behind.

I know people leave their families all the time, but I’ve always been close to my family and spent a lot of time with them. And I really miss that.

And my kids really miss doing things with our relatives.

While we were in SC visiting, we did all sorts of things with family. We went on boat rides, went swimming in the lake, and went tubing on the Chauga River.  We went blueberry picking at a nearby blueberry farm.  We went to a cousin’s birthday party, too. And we just hung out with family–watching tv, playing video games or other games, and just talking.

We spent a lot of our time visiting my mother who is not in the greatest health. She misses having us around.  We try to cram a year’s worth of visits with her into the 3 or 4 weeks we are in the area each year. She hates it most of all that we moved so far away.

For us, being far away has meant that we’ve missed weddings, funerals, birthdays, family reunions, holidays, and many other events.

Sure, we have friends in L.A. But friends, no matter how good they are, typically come and go.  With family it is different — at least for us it is.

At times, I really just want to drop everything, and just take off to return to the Southeast.

If you are considering moving to L.A. or New York for your child to become a child actor, have you considered how you’ll feel when your family is so far away?

How much will you miss your family if you move to L.A. or New York for your child to become a child actor?

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What Can Musical Theatre Do for Your Child?

My daughter loves doing theatre, and in particular, musical theatre.  She just performed as ‘Belle‘ in “Beauty and the Beast” this past weekend in a community musical theatre production.

She has been in eight community theatre productions over the last two years. This has kept both of us very busy.

The last several weeks have been incredibly busy with almost-daily dress and tech rehearsals.  Parents were busy helping with costumes and props, and assisting at rehearsals and performances.

I, for one, am glad to once again have time to fix a healthy dinner for my family and catch up on laundry, bill-paying, house cleaning, sleep, and all the other things that I’ve neglected over the last few weeks.

Yesterday, my daughter said, “I feel sad that it is over.”  I feel more relief than sadness that the show has come to an end, but I do understand how she feels.

For more than two months, she shared most of her time outside of school with these other kids, teens, and adults. They lived and breathed “Beauty and the Beast” as they sang and danced and acted, all working together to create this beautiful show. And through this experience, the cast members formed special bonds with each other.

As a 12-year-old ‘Belle,’ my daughter experienced something truly wonderful that she will always treasure. As she stood on the stage for a “Meet and Greet” session with the audience, young children gave her flowers and cards and posed for pictures with her.   To those children, she was ‘Belle,’ and that experience brought my daughter great joy.

Sure, there were frustrations and disappointments.  ‘Maurice’ and ‘The Beast/Prince‘ were not feeling well for the shows. And one of the shows was rained out as the performances are in an outdoor amphitheater.

But for the most part, those will not be the things my daughter remembers. What she will remember is the friendships she made and the incredible experience of being part of this show.

In case you are wondering, “What can musical theatre do for my child?” please continue reading.

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What Should You Do If Your Child Wants to Become a Child Actor?

Become a Child Actor

If your child wants to become a child actor, trying to help them achieve this goal can be confusing, frustrating, and expensive.

That was one of the difficulties I faced as I tried to find acting and modeling opportunities for my young child.

I bought books about getting started in acting, and I enrolled my daughter in schools and classes. But I did not know if they were good ones. I even put my daughter in pageants when she was young just trying to give her the opportunity to perform.

Honestly, I needed help, but I could not find anyone who could answer my questions.  As a result, I made some decisions that might not have been the best.  I wanted to learn more about the entertainment industry, but I did not know where to turn.

Are you wondering how to help your child become a child actor and having the same problems that I did?

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Should You Move to Los Angeles for Your Child to Become a Child Actor?

Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles

When we were faced with the decision of whether to move to Los Angeles for our daughter to become a child actor, we did not know where to turn for answers.

We had a talent manager who was urging us to move to Los Angeles so he could represent our daughter.

Our daughter was doing some acting locally, but the fact is that Charleston, SC, is not exactly a hotbed of acting activity.  There were not very many auditions for her there.

My daughter also had an agent in Atlanta, but that is about a five-hour drive, which is a long way to go for acting auditions.

Surprisingly, many of our family and friends thought we would regret it if we did not at least give our daughter the chance to pursue acting in Los Angeles.  Of course, others thought we were totally out of our minds for even considering such a thing.

There were so many things to consider, such as whether we could afford it, how long we’d be in Los Angeles, how we’d manage with our family divided that way, and how my husband would work his full-time job and take care of our home and 12-year-old son with us away.

I was worried about leaving my family and friends and going alone with my daughter to this place that I’d heard so many negative things about. And that meant that I would not have anyone I knew nearby to help if we needed it.

And then I had to think about whether I wanted our lives to change that much. We were living a very comfortable life in South Carolina.

It was a very difficult decision to make, especially knowing that there are no guarantees in the entertainment industry.

Certainly, the decision to move to California or New York for your child to become a child actor is a decision that should only be made after a lot of  soul searching.

Is moving to Los Angeles for your child to become a child actor the best decision for you and your child? How will a move like this affect your whole family?  Are there other choices you can make for pursuing a show business career for your child?

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