Is your child a darling in front of the camera? Do your friends and family adore your child’s pictures in social media and often suggest you should think about getting your child into modelling? If you have no clue how to go about this, here is a quick guide.

Modelling: Is It Right For Your Child?

Before understanding how the kids’ modelling industry works, you need to understand one thing. Just having a pretty face is not enough for modelling. You and your baby should be able to give more than that. So, you need to answer two questions:

1. Does your child have it in him/her to be a model?
   There are three important characteristics that your child possess (in addition to having a camera-friendly face) to be a successful child model:
   • Temperament: An extremely shy child will not enjoy the attention that modelling brings. To be a model, your child needs to be very comfortable in interacting with strangers. He/she should also be good at listening to instructions given to him/her and following the guidelines correctly. While a free-spirited child who listens only to his/her own self will might not adapt to the instruction-led world of modelling
   • Personality: Parents of successful child models swear that their kids are very outgoing, smiles easily and very friendly by nature
   • Ability to handle disappointment: While this particular characteristic does not impact your child’s work, it will definitely impact his/her life. Remember that your child will have to face a lot of rejections once he/she is a model. Not every job is su itable for your child. And your child should be able to handle the “no”
     sportingly
2. Do you have it in you to be the parent of a child model?
   The parents of child models definitely has more work and stress than the child models themselves. So, it is also important to ask if this is right for you. Remember that you will need to have a lot of free time as you will have to drive your child for auditions, wait for the child’s turn and drive back. And if selected, it means more driving around. So if you are a working parent hoping to do this in the evenings and weekends, it might not work for you

Now, if you answered yes to all the questions above, then awesome! You are ready to understand the steps involved in making your child a model.

Steps Involved In Getting Your Child Into Modelling

• Get few good photographs of your baby. It need not be professionally shot or portfolio standard. Usually one close up and one full-length photograph would be good enough
• Identify few modelling agencies in your locality and send your child’s photographs to all of them
• If the agency head hunters like what they see, they will give you a call
• Once you get a call, you go and meet the relevant people in the agency, and they sign your child up. All reputable agencies signs up children free of cost. They only charge you once you have got an assignment. Remember this and do not fall prey to scams
• Now, every time there is a requirement for a child of your kid’s age group, the agency will intimate you. You take your child to the respective audition
• After the audition, if your child is picked, your agency will let you know
• Your child does the assignment. Agency will take a 10-20% cut from your child’s pay and transfer rest to your child

8 Tips To Get Your Child Into Modelling

Now that you understand the steps involved, remember the following tips:

1. Do not pay any money upfront to the agency. If they ask for it, they are not legitimate. There are many scams that feed on parents’ enthusiasm to see their kids in TV and print ads. Stay clear of them
2. Make sure your child really enjoys modelling and it is not something he/she has agreed to please you
3. If your school going child has to miss school for any modelling assignment, make sure you take permission from the school for your child to take part in the shoot. A lot of modelling agencies require a permission letter from the school
4. Do not see it as a money making venture as child models are paid very less
5. Since kids grow up fast and their facial and bodily features keep changing, it not a wise idea to spend a lot on photoshoot. Most agencies will require only regular photographs
6. Read up reviews about agencies before sending them pictures
7. Both you and your child should be ready to take rejection on your strides
8. It goes without saying that if you are in a metropolitan city like Mumbai or Delhi, then your chances of getting assignments are higher. However, do not consider relocating for kick starting your child’s modelling career as no agency can guarantee work

We hope that these tips are of help to you. These are just basic pointers and you should do a detailed research if you want your child to get into modelling. All the best to you and your little one!
If any of you have got your child into modelling, then please share your experience or any tips that we have missed out on in the comments section below.