10 Year Old's Modeling? "Shut the Front Door!"

No, I would not allow my child to do this. At 10 years old, this is not the career I would wish my child to dream of... I would prefer her to think about doing something that uses her mind rather than her appearance.

great, so now instead of trying to get the 20 year old skin back, I have to be jealous of a 10 year olds?

Also, a better link w pics:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2022305/Thylane...

ummm gross. Here I thought Brooke Shields Calvin Klein ad in the 80s was riske... now basically we're allowing creative license for child pornographers. She may be clothed...but she's TEN and he's wearing stilettos! seriously! I mean it's one thing for my daughter to play dress up in Mommy's clothes/make-up at home...but this is ridiculous to allow a 10yr old to be so sexualized.

The shows like Toddlers & Tiara's make me sick too. To be fair I'll admit I've never watched an episode....but seeing the commercials was enough to make me wish Child Protective Services would come in and swoop all these little girls away.

P.S. yes this was in Europe...but she's ten years old. It's not about having hang ups about my body or sexuality. It's about putting a little girl in women's clothing and making her look like a sexual object. I think women's bodies are beautiful and I think it's wonderful to see the fashion and freedom of a WOMAN. Not a little girl. Only creepy creeps want to see a little girl dressed like that. And of course a 10yr old wants to model. It's fun! But a 10yr old also does not have the mindset to understand that she's dressed like a 30yr old about to jump some guys bones. ugh. disgusting.

It's pervy to put pre pubescent girls in Vogue Magazine with plunging necklines and "come hither" open mouth gaping stares. Superficiality and luxury aside. I hate kids in couture gear anyway, I think high fashion should be earned by working adults but now I seriously digress......

But anyway, she's soooo young, it's a bit premature to predict what she'll look like when she IS modeling age. I see lots of little girls every bit as cute as her at the local mall.

All I can say is EWWWW, Vogue, shame on you. No more brats in your mag please or I'll have to quit subscribing. I like to ESCAPE from my kids with adult fashion mags (while they beg to snatch and tear through them for the perfume samples)....not look at more kids!

Jen C. I used to live in Europe. Unless it's a kid catalog, puberty is standard in fashion models there as well as here. You're over the hill at 20 in modeling, not 12. Let us ignore this and hope it goes away, because for real, if anymore kids are in those mags, I will never purchase another one.

Honestly, I think if the child wants to model--they should--but do it NATURALLY and not in all the gliz and glamour and sexy outfits etc. Let them be normal little boys and girls. As for the magazine cover---some parents exploit their kids and they should be ashamed of themselves. Those type of pictures are just what sickos and pedophiles prey on--I think it is atrocious that the little girl was posed that way and dressed that way.

Alot of parents on the toddler and tiara show are way to invested in living out their own dreams of modeling and pagents then the little kids involved. Its horrible!

M

That's when I started serious modeling -age 10, 5th grade- (CK, and lots of japanese companies), but I wasn't up to couture standards until I was almost 12. (6 feet tall and 114-123lbs and a b/c cup in the 7th grade... but in 7th I switch to exercise riding at the local race track, since I was only 6 pounds over saddle weight and had the height and muscles to control them).

It's what I OFTEN tell people, when they're sighing over runway and shoot models . "You REALIZE she's like, 11, don't you?"

((HONESTLY, I think the only reason this is making the news is that she LOOKS her age, rather than most of us who passed for 16-21 at ages 10-12))

I'd say, on average, about 1/3 of us were 12 and under, and half of us were 14 and under at any given shoot or show. 18 is OLD for a model, and very few make it that far. I did some work for Chanel and others when I was older, but that was to fulfill the "sacred job of seeing that R.'s belly got fed on a regular basis" (I'd been homeless for about 6 months prior), and it was strictly runway work.

I've modeled and been an amateur athlete.

In my experience you find "stage parents" in EVERY arena. Whether it's modeling, sports, academics, music, acting... the parents who don't give a rip about their kids, just their kid's PERFORMANCE. But MOST parents (in my experience) just aren't like that. It's an adventure, and it's fun, and they often call halt/demand breaks LONG before their kids actually want them.

Do you think most olympic athletes WANT to train 10 hours a day, every day? Nope. MOST days, absolutely. And some days they just don't want to. Do you think every 4.0 student WANTS to study as much as they do? Nope. Some days they just don't want to. Do you think every musician WANTS to practice for hours every day? Nope. Some days they just don't want to.

Good parents push through the "don't wannas" (just like you do when your child doesn't "wanna" share), and pace their kids, and make sure they have the kind of down time they need, and keep life fun and balanced.

Stage parents are the ones you're talking about and they are the RARE / self obsessed / makes good "news" / MINORITY of parents.

Is modeling tough? Absolutely. I tell people over and over and over who are saying things like "People tell me my child is so beautiful! Even strangers! Should I..." that they should absolutely NOT NOT NOT get into modeling if they want to hear their child is beautiful. If they CAN stand hearing 200 versions of "ugly" (thin, villainous lips! just cracks me up) and so can their kid, then sure, consider it. Modeling is becoming a piece of ART. One artist will WANT that "aristocratic smile/ thin villainous lips" and another wants a cupid. Photographers are painters using pallets of PEOPLE instead of brushes... and designers are looking for a "vibe" and something (notice the "thing" part) that makes their designs POP, and alcohol wants sexy, and, and, and, and....

But EVERY "thing" is TOUGH.

In the FIRST place; you have to be lucky: Can a 6 foot tall gymnast compete? Nope. Too tall for the rotation needed to stay competitive. And a 200 pound ballerina will never go pro (unless there is a very niche company). What about the developmentally disabled kid who does their *damndest* to pull B's being valedictorian or getting a Rhodes scholarship? Or a kid who wants to be a surgeon but has a tremor in their hands. Or the tone deaf musician, or, or, or.

In the second, you have to have the money and the time and the availability. There's a REASON why so many kids in SoCal and NYC are actors, it's because it's a commute their parents can do. How about ice skaters? Boots are $800, blades are well over $1000, and coaching is $100 an hour. How about piano? Does the kid's parents have SPACE for a piano, and money to buy or rent one? Does the school even have one? The best child actor in the world may be in Fargo North Dakota, but no one will ever know it, because there aren't film studios in Fargo. Unless the parents have the money and time and ability to relocate. Ditto all the other and hundreds of others abilities children have. If what they are a genius at, or "merely" amazingly skilled at/have aptitude for just isn't AROUND, or is too expensive... that's just bad luck (see #1) that there isn't time/money/availabilty.

In the third place, you have to WORK HARD to get good at anything. Natural ability will only take you so far. But working hard isn't enough, either (see #s 2&3). You can work and work and work and still not get "it" if you're not lucky, if there's not the time/money/opportunity. But if you're lucky, and there's the time & money & availability... you still have to WORK for it.

EVERYTHING IS TOUGH. Whether you're sending your child who is in tears back onto the field (and of course, then they have a blast), or you're canceling the party because your kid didn't finish their homework or their chores... does this make them NOT "normal" kids? Does this make you a bad parent?

Then why assume that another parent is a bad parent and their kids aren't "normal kids"?

I'm amazed they even make highheels in little girls sizes. What the heck!
I would not allow that kind of modeling, too sexy and too much makeup. Let a kid be a kid not a sex symbol.

I think she is doing this because she wants to, and starting this young is the norm in modeling, waiting until she is older would only damage her career. While I do think some of the pictures are rather sexy for a girl her age, I am looking at them through American eyes, where we have a lot of hang ups about our bodies and sexuality. She is modeling in Europe, where those same hang ups do not exist.

added: I also think a lot of people may just be jealous that this girl, at 10, is not only a famous model, but that she is posing in mags that most models will never make it into.

Where do you think they get the kids for the TV ads, magazines, catalogs and weekly sale flyers? They are models.
There is a huge market for child models, especially babies, because they grow so fast. A toddler is a toddler, it doesn't matter if the child is 3 or 4 to model an outfit or play with a toy for a picture. Child models make as much as regular print models, in most states the agent can only take 10% of the child's income as a commision. So if your child gets one job a week they will make $500-$1000/day +travel expenses. If the parents are smart and take the bulk of that money and invest it or simply bank it the kids will have a nice college fund by the time they are 18.

I don't know if I'd allow it or not. Probably not, but for different reasons. The career is stressful, highly critical, involves a lot of running about and a set of unpredictable standard which I don't *think* I'd want my kids to have to adhere to. It's also finicky. One never knows, with certainty, what / who is going to be in or out, or what sort of body is going to wear certain trends. It's a difficult paradigm for a child to be up against, and I don't like living in rigid failure/success models of life. I don't want that for my children.

Also, many of my child's coworkers would be folks trying to cope, and who had found active solutions in eating disorders/drug use/etc. Realistically, that is already the case in our schools, in our neighborhoods, on our sidewalks, and, often, in our homes. So, I don't think I'll get to fully protect my children from seeing or, perhaps, experiencing that.

And then, I don't know if it would be healthy to be entrenched in an industry that is based on aesthetics (and profit) ALONE. (I love aesthetics, and I'd like to be making a profit ;-), but this must be placed in a greater context, I think).

On the other hand, travel, an income (to be saved until my child wanted to go to school/start a business/travel/etc?) would be a potentially fantastic opportunity and resource.

I'm not sure who me or my children will be in ten years, so I don't know for sure. Nor do I know where the industry will be. A lot has changed in the past ten years...so, one never knows for certain.

Kids have been modeling for decades. I'll admit, this girl LOOKS ten. Honestly though, many, many, many of the photos we flip by without blinking are of 11, 13, 17 years old. It's the way it is. So this doesn't surprise me.

Even if the little girl wants to do modeling, I think its her parents' responsibility to make sure that the gigs she's getting are age-appropriate, and I think these shots are NOT. Granted, Jen C has a point about the differences in America and Europe regarding sexuality. I still have personal issues with the idea of young children doing adult shoots. I have a friend who modeled in high school, and she decided to quit because they wanted her to lose 20 pounds or something ridiculous. She was NOT a big girl. She was skinnier than I was, and I was 110 lbs at 5'7". I worry about the issues these girls would have as they get older and their bodies change. I would imagine they would be more likely to have body image issues.

I saw one picture of her that I thought was a bit sexy, but other than that I think she's stunning and has an absolutely natural talent that shouldn't be wasted if she wants to use it! I'm sure she doesn't wear makeup everyday or dress like that when she goes to school or plays, and who says she isn't whip smart and innocent in addition to being beautiful? There is nothing wrong with looking your best, as long as you pay attention to the other things that matter as well.

The show toddlers and tiaras is crazy. I know people who do kid pageants and it's nothing like that. Do you think all people from jersey are like the ones from jersey shore? Thank goodness most people let their kids do what they choose and hopefully don't go overboard if the kid decides not to or set limits!

Personally? I think her parents are insane and truly lack any sense of responsible parenting.....a child needs to be a child!! this is like that ugly show - Toddlers and Tiaras...

The pictures are TOTALLY inappropriate for a 10 year old - I don't care if it's Europe or the U.S. she is TEN - count them 10 YEARS OLD!!! She has a dress on that is cut to her navel!! Hell - even when I was built like a brick house there's NO WAY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH I'D WEAR SOMETHING LIKE THAT!! oh my...

Children are being taught that outside beauty matters and they must be older than they are...grow up NOW!! So when she gets stuck with drugs and the agencies telling her she's too fat - even if she's a size 6 - then she starts vomiting after a meal or not eating at all...who are the parents going to blame? Sorry - I blame them. She is a CHILD.

Let me preface that I didn't open the article to read (or see) about the child. I'm no prude, but I have been very uncomfortable in a couple dance recitals that a friend's daughter was in, with all the ridiculous makeup and some of the dance moves that I certainly wouldn't have been allowed to do at 6. I caught myself looking around the audience wondering if there was anyone there that didn't belong. I know that is stupid. But....over sexualizing little girls is just not right.
I don't have a daughter. But I'd probably shoot a photographer if he coached my child to make "sexy" facial expressions or whatever. I would be worried he was a perv, or printing for pervs. That's just me.

Wonder what the labor laws are for kids this age????
Of course.
And if the modeling companies, adhere to that.
And what about her schooling?

It is the parents, that give the final say.

So many issues here.

your link is empty, it says "No blog posts yet." when you open it.

I'm shocked by the overt sexualization of that 10 year old. Makes me wonder what is wrong with her parents - for allowing it, the photographer who undoubtedly asked her to pose provocatively and the fashion stylist who chose her clothing and make-up!!

I am VERY interested in having my children model... but I would always have to approve the clothing and make-up... I don't even allow my daughter to wear the usual short shorts or bikinis that they are selling to Moms of toddlers, pre-schoolers and grade schoolers.