How many moms have said – or thought – that?Well, we did it. We live a stone’s throw from Miami, and a lot goes on there. When the boys were little, a fashion merchandiser we know told me she thought the boys had modeling potential.
We had a friend whose mom was an agent, so off we went to visit her. Four redheaded, vivacious boys aren’t easy to forget, and she loved them. She suggested a photographer and we got comps made for the boys.
All in all, it was a great experience for the boys. You hope for the Pampers commercial that pays for college…but that didn’t happen. They probably paid for the cost of their photo comps, gas and tolls, and the donuts treats that followed our outings.
Two of them were in the Dunkin Donuts calendar. Remember the Donut Man – “It’s time to make the donuts”? They posed with him, and he was very sweet. All four were in catalogues and print ads, the oldest had a small part in a movie, and all of the boys were in one commercial together. Nobody got rich. Our little movie actor probably made the most. It went into his savings and was used toward his first car.
But it was a great experience for them.
We went to a concert in Miami last week, and as we drove I thought to myself, “I was crazy to haul four boys down here in a minivan, looking for shoots, trying to find parking, keeping them all together and reasonably happy…” But they learned a lot from the experience. Here are a few lessons:
1. I’m not always chosen. That doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with me – people are just looking for something different sometimes.
2. Sometimes you have to wait...and wait, and wait. And occupy yourself while you're waiting.
3. Advertising isn’t real; it’s fake. It’s a show. (Valuable lessons as they grew up as little consumers.)
4. It takes all types of people to make up a world. And some are sweet and kind and some are not.
5. The beautiful people on the outside are not always beautiful on the inside. What’s in the heart is what comes out. "For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." (Luke 6:45)
6. It’s what’s inside that’s really important.
Of course, they only learned these lessons as we pointed them out and reinforced them.
But I’m glad we had the opportunity to use those teachable moments. As I remembered those days, I realized I was thankful for that experience for the boys.
One more thing to be grateful for in this month of gratitude. Those days were challenging, but fun. They learned, they grew. I’m glad we had that experience.
What's an experience you’re glad your kids had? An incident you were able to use as a teachable moment?
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6 comments:
This is a great topic to touch on! My kids are modeling and acting right now .It has been a great learning experience for all the reasons you mentioned!! Another great thing it has done for my kids, especially my daughter, is that it has given them confidence. They also now know that modeling and acting are NOT all glamour! Its work! Thank you for this article!
wow I love the lessons you gleaned from this experience, especially helping kids learn you don't always win and sometimes you wait. life lessons for all of us.
Fun story! Do you have a clip of the commercial you could post?
Great lesson, too, on inward and outward beauty. With a mama like you, something tells me your children were blessed with both.
:-)
This is such a hard one, Laura.We want them to have character, but we don't want them to have to hurt to earn it. You are very wise to see this perspective.
And I loved that Dunkin' Donuts guy.
p.s. I wish I could come to your show!! It sounds like it will be amazing. Too far away though. So I'll just say it now: Break a leg!
We went round and round with this for my daughter. Living in Atlanta, there were a million opportunities for her, but we finally decided against it. I didn't want her to grow up in a world where her beauty defined her and decided her worth. I didn't want her to face the pressures of being thin and beautiful. If it had been my son, I would probably have felt differently about it, the pressures on boys are just not as great, nor as damaging in the long term. So glad you had a good experience.
I know what you mean! I often said, "I just don't know if I'd do this if they were girls..." It was a lot easier with boys.
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