Have you ever been watching a television show or a movie with children actors in them and asked yourself how they ended up there? Often times we are so focused on the actual storyline that we forget that these are real people and real children behind these characters.
Are these children really capable of making the decision to be an actor without outside influences? The prefrontal cortex is located in the frontal lobe in the brain and is responsible for decision making. Interestingly enough, the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until the age of twenty-five approximately.
This means that children have a hindered capacity to make decisions that are sound and independent. Unfortunately, this can result in them being unable to make their own decisions that are best for their own interests.
These children also may not be able to fully express how they truly feel in regards to acting because they constantly feel the pressure to please their parents and others. This also lends to the reality of the difficulties children face when they have helicopter parents.
Helicopter parents feel the excessive need to be involved in every part of their child's life and choose to live vicariously through them even at the expense of the child's well-being. No one's interest should be placed in front of a child. There are no exceptions.
It's also time that we look back at others whom we can learn a lesson from. There have been countless well-known child actors such as Demi Lovato, Lindsey Lohan, Macaulay Culkin, and Amanda Bynes who were not fit to handle fame. The stresses of being in the spotlight at such a young age proved to take its toll. The child actors listed have had to live with substance abuse issues, trouble with the law, eating disorders, and even mental illness. This should not be the reality of those who are actors at a young age.
At what point are we going to decide that having children actors on television and in movies is just not worth it anymore? It is time that we take a step back and reconsider the negative effects that fame at too early of an age can have on individuals. Let's let kids be kids.
