Before getting much further into the do’s and don’ts, necessities and how-to’s of being the parent of a child actor, here are some questions to ask yourself before committing to being and actors mom.

As always, I say actors “moms”, but this goes for any adult who is part of the process – mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, older sibling, etc.

We’ll go into more depth with some of these later if you are still deciding weather or not to enter your budding child actor into the showbiz world.  For now, here are some questions to ask your child and for you to ask yourself.  You can save a lot of heartache, frustration, time and money if you and your child are at least in the same ballpark if not exactly seeing eye-to-eye on an acting career.

I was asked these questions by potential agents when my kids first said they wanted to get into acting and we ask these questions when interviewing potential child acting clients and their parents.

We look for a lot of different things, but mostly, are the parents and the children going to work together or is there some struggle.  Does one want it more than the other?  Is the difference significant enough to make it difficult for this family to succeed in this difficult industry?

For now, I’m just giving you the questions here – no right or wrong answers at this point.  Your answers have to mean something to you personally, not to impress anyone else. You are the only one keeping score if you choose to.

1)    Child: Do you want to be a professional actor?
Parent: Do you want your child to be a professional actor?

If either of you were in the “not-so-much to heck-no” area, read on, but I think you already have your answer.

Consider what you want to get out of the experience.
2)    Child: Why do you want to be an actor?
Parent: Why do you want your child to be an actor?

3)  Parent and Child:
What is the Best Outcome you could hope for? (What makes this outcome good?)\

4)  What is the Worst Outcome that could come of this? (What makes this outcome bad?)

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 a little or nothing or no effort – 10  yes, Yes, YES I’ll do anything)

5)  How much do you want to do this?

6)  How much do you think the other party wants to do this?

7)  How much time are you willing to commit to this?

8)  Are you willing to take (pay for) classes?
If yes – How often?

9)  Child:  Are you ready for constructive criticism?
Parent:  Are you ready for constructive (and sometimes not so constructive) criticism of your Little Angel?

10) Child: Are you ready for perceived rejection? (How thick is your skin?)
Parent: Are you ready for your child to receive perceived rejection?