Acting Camps: Preparing Your Young Actor or Actress for Industry Success

Helping your young acting hopeful prepare for a successful
acting career can be an incredibly rewarding experience for the
parent. All parents like seeing their children being creative,
expressing themselves, and, most importantly, having fun.

It should be stated, however, that forcing a child to
participate in any pursuit they don’t like is not just
counterproductive but harmful to the child. Your role, as the
acting hopeful’s parent, is to caringly nurture your children’s
expressed interests and not force them into a pursuit in order
to live vicariously through them. One would have to be born
under a rock to have missed some of the more public examples of
what can happen when children are forced into an acting career
they never wanted.

That being said, there are some very simple pointers you can
follow that will have a powerful impact in the immediate sense
and create long-term opportunities for the professional acting
success of your son or daughter.

Start Early: Human beings, it would seem, are all natural born
actors. Early in their lives, they often spend entire afternoons
play-acting imaginary scenarios. Sadly, as many of us get older,
we forget how much fun acting can be. By exposing your
youngsters, at an early age, to the concept of acting, you are,
in effect, introducing them to something at which they are
already. Regardless of whether it’s soccer, football, chess, or
acting, childhood pursuits should always be fun. By giving your
children an early glimpse of acting while they are young and
predisposed to the concept, you dramatically increase the odds
of their long-term success. Acting Camps provide the perfect
vehicle for your children to immerse themselves in the creative
fun acting can provide. What they gain from the camp experience
has as much to do with you, the parent, as it does the camp
itself. With the internet woven into the fabric of our lives,
there is simply no excuse for parents not doing due-diligence
research on any acting camp they are considering. A little
research time, up front, can save you a lot of money, effort,
and disappointment later.

After your children have started their first camp, make sure
that they are having fun. If not, first try finding a
better-suited program and see if that resolves the issue. If
not, you may need to consider the fact that acting may not be of
interest to them at that point in their lives. If that is the
case, and the situation is handled carefully, it may well become
one as they get older. Forcing the issue now will virtually
guarantee that your child will never enjoy the art. If there
isn’t a fit, back off and give them some time. Find out what it
was about the camp experience they didn’t like. More
importantly, find out what things (even if only a few) they
actually did like about the camp. Pay attention to these
answers. There is a good chance that, armed with this
information, you can research other camps that may be better
suited to your child’s tastes and artistic needs. Find a
different camp, try again next year, and until then don’t push
or make a big deal out of it.

Be Involved: Acting is a passion and, like flame, it needs fuel
in order to burn. A parent’s support and involvement has no
equal as that fuel. Acting Camp is about far more than just what
happens during the time your child attends. What happens before
and after camp is as important as the camp itself. Furthermore,
if you have an uninterested attitude towards your children’s
pursuits then their attitude will soon follow your own. Help
them prepare for the camp experience beforehand. If you have
done your research, then you are well-versed in what your
children will be learning and doing. Help them feel prepared for
it and they will have the kind of fun that only self-confidence
brings. After Camp is over, spend a lot of time revisiting what
they experienced and learned. Often, there are exercises and
drama games that can be fun for the whole family to recreate.
Children look to their parents for validation. Be that
validation for your young actor or actress and you have armed
them well for success.

Be Selective: Acting Camps are as varied as the children who
attend them. Take the time to research, research, research. If
your children are new to the art, look for fun-filled camps that
focus more on the enjoyment of the experience than the knowledge
gained. As your children progress, they will want, as well as
need, more challenges for their minds. Complacency destroys
drive, and an unchallenged mind can hardly avoid becoming
complacent. Acting Camp should always be fun, but as your
children grow they will develop a sense of pride in their craft
and will be eager to take the challenge to the next level. Do
your homework and be prepared to provide that challenge in their
next camp.

Preparing For the Next Step: Eventually your children (and I use
that term loosely here) will be ready to move on to acting
school. As you have watched and participated with your children
in their acting youth, you’ll no doubt have picked up on where
their artistic talents and drive really lie. Research schools
that have well-respected programs, and degrees, in those areas.
This next step is an expensive one, so doing your research here
actually does pay. Just as acting camps have helped form your
children’s creative foundations, so acting schools will take it
to that next, and this time, professional level.

Cold New World

Looking through the glass apothecary jars at Peterson’s grocery store, was a swirling dream of every kind of candy a kid could want. A small cardboard sign read “3 cents for 5 pieces.”

It took us all day of bottle hunting to get enough money to get our fill of candy. Glass bottles gave you a 2 cent refund for bringing them back to the store. Not much litter back then, someone was always looking for a way to make money, even a pittance.

Hand-me-down clothes was the way of life for most of us. I never really knew the difference until I was bit older. I was a fat kid so I always ended up with Sears Husky’s jeans and a previously owned shirt. It only served to enhance my level of appreciation later in life. I didn’t care about showing off for girls when I was that young anyway.

Men, like my father, worked hard at their jobs. They may not have liked working in the conditions which some had to endure, but, I think they were glad to have a job.

My father and mother worked all the time to provide for us. We will never know their struggles, for in those days, parents never told their problems to their kids. They were always afraid we would blab it all over the neighborhood. How wise they were indeed.

Most of my friend’s parents worked at the same jobs for what seemed, forever. It was not uncommon for a man to work the same job for 45 or even 50 years. They were the prime definition of people in a rut. I remember listening to them talking about their lives, I could not even fathom the thought of doing the same kind of work over and over again for that long. Oh My God NO!

I have frequently watched the people who grew older with me. They had the same experiences as I. They vowed the same vows as I, yet, when they grew up they became the exact persons that they vowed not to become. They worked for many years at the same jobs, complaining in the same fashion in which we had heard our pedecessors. I have not followed that unholy path.

One day, it dawned on me, that even if I had wished to travel the path of the old ways, it was not to be. It could not be. I realized as the people before me had, that the old ways had vanished. I was trapped in the New World.

I heard a wonderful grey haired old person say “the reason that we repeat the same old stories, is because we will never have anymore new stories to talk about” I thought,”how strong and true is that statement”?

As I write this story new ideas and new stories, flow into my mind. Wishing I had the time and energy to tell all of them to you, so you could see what an exciting and wonderful life I have had. Gosh, my body is getting wrinkly, and my joints hurt, but my mind is so very young. Your mind can keep your body going even when it wants to quit. I am convinced of that.

Comfort and warmth are good words to an old person. We want that so much. Maybe it is because when we were young, we gave that up in so many instances.

Our elders made us feel wimpy when we complained. We did not want to be wimpy, but really, we were. And guess what? Our parents were wimpy compared to their parents. It goes like that from generation to generation. We put that out of our minds because who wants that tag on them? I am laughing as I write this. I know many of you know exactly what I am talking about and that is comforting to me.

You know, I am typing this on a computer. New stuff, new days, new ways and thoughts. I always promised myself that when I grew older I would not complain about the new music. Our parents did that to us. Jimmie Hendrix, the Stones, Janice, Humble Pie. Sometimes, you can not help yourself.

Man, I really can not stand this rap crap. I don’t like gangsters making kids think that it is powerful to be a gangster. I am an old time cop from Chicago, and gangsters are bad news. Our kids feel powerless so these gangsters seem like they are a source of power. They are not powerful, they are weak and pathetic.

Contributing to society is strong and powerful. Helping people rise up is strong. Teaching young people about forgiveness, love, and family care is magnificent. Sacrifice for others is being really tough just like the old people I remember.

Many people who are trying to do just that are vexed with the new ways of society. There is not loyalty in the workplace anymore. Doing a great job for the company does not earn you longjevity, people who can still do the right thing in spite of all they face today are the real powerhouses, we should all be looking up to. Real heros in a cold world.

Greed fuels many of the social climbers and watching the families of this country struggle means nothing to them. They will gladly step on the heads of families to fill their pockets with money. No matter to them, they see themselves as the real power houses and those they step on as weak.

Now I say my little prayer,”God, please don’t let me be behind one of these people on judgement day, because I have enough to worry about without You being in a bad mood because of one of those knuckle heads” Amen.

Change is good. Look at these words and see if you can identify yourself. Good guy or bad guy? Stepping on people for greed or building people up for the sake of humanity. Gangster and proud of it, or, the person putting your arm around someone who needs it, showing them real strength?

So many voices calling for help out here today, so many who can not help themselves because somehow the world has changed into the Cold New World. It won’t be long before I will be checking out. I have been fortunate to make my changes and asked for help and forgiveness. Too few will read this small body of ideas, passing this on to those who really need it.

I am always hopeful that the flames which heated this world for so many years can be rekindled where love, kindness, and giving will prevail once again. I wish you strength, love, happiness, and good health.

Just a man