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Dear God, I hope not.

The term, "show business" conjures up visions of singing and dancing Muppets, screaming adoration from millions of fans, and problems that get solved by the time the final credits role. Parents and children who buy into these fantasies set themselves up for lifetimes, of struggle, dissappointment and failure.

I'm constantly inundated with stage moms and dads who can't or won't think realistically about their child, who march them into my auditions expecting me to be so thrilled with their little angel that I'm going to drop everything and get on the phone with Spielberg right this minute.

Parents, please, please listen to me. I have worked in and continue to work in the industry , and I'm telling you as bluntly as I can: indulging in all this fantasy is at best stupid, and at worst very dangerous.

The industry doesn't care about what's best for your child. They will use her if they can, and if not, they won't. If they do use her, it will be on their terms, and you don't get to judge, critique or in many cases even watch, and you have to be okay with that.

The only time I would ever suggest encouraging your son or daughter to pursue a career in the entertainment industry is if your child honestly enjoys the work involved, rather than the perceived glory of it all. Does she learn her lines because she's interested in the story, or does she only seem to care when the camera is turned on? Does she love the song because of what it says, as opposed to who sings it? Is she loved and respected by her friends because she actually cares about them or just because she once was on TV?

I'm not trying to be mean, or saying that a girl can't dress up as her favourite singer or movie star for an afternoon. Children need to have heroes, after all, and I wouldn't want any parent to deny their children the things that they love. All I'm saying is that there comes a point where you have to be the grownup, and say "it's not really like that, honey. That only happens on TV." You're the parent, you'll know when and how to do this. But please don't leave it too late. It will hurt her far less to hear it from you than it will when it comes out of Simon's mouth on American Idol.

On a final note, I've used the feminine in this article on purpose. I don't know if there are any statistics to back this up, but anecdotally I see far more starstruck young girls than I do boys trying to break into the industry. Dancers have a saying about their field, and I think it applies pretty well to all areas of the entertainment business: for every female role there are ten girls who have to audition for it, while for every boy there are ten roles from which he can choose.

That's show business!

Learn more about this author, Eric Goudie.
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