Modelling is like marmite, dancing, and sprouts. Confused? Hear us out.

A key consideration when looking at a talent management agency is whether your son or daughter will actually enjoy child modelling. Many mothers might worry that despite discussing the process with them, they might dislike the experience. At the end of the day if you haven’t modelled yourself you might have no idea what the process will entail, and, even if you have, there is no way of predicting whether their experience will be as good.

One of our mum’s recently took her aspiring model on her very first shoot with Kit For Kids. The experience was a mixed one, with a few common problems plaguing their day.

“This was Bryony’s first modelling assignment with Talent Management and it took a while for her to settle in at the Kit For Kids venue. Bryony’s usually far from shy but on this occasion she clammed up a bit, possibly due to the unfamiliar surroundings. We’d travelled over two hours in traffic to get to the site and even though I didn’t want to let the people down I wasn’t going to force Bryony to do something she didn’t want to.”

It is not at all uncommon to have to travel to modelling jobs, even if you live in London or another big city. Studios and companies won’t all be central unfortunately, and a talent management agency will have models based all over the country. Your agency might take distance into account, but if you’ve got a job 60 miles away you might have to give some thought to how you’ll get to a job or casting. Driving tends to be easiest, and will probably be most comfortable for you and your little star. You can speak to your talent management agency prior to travel to make sure there is parking near the venue, and clarify any directions in case the location is a bit of a strange one.

Bryony’s mum didn’t give up, or force Bryony to participate, which is exactly what we would have suggested: “rather than go home straight away I thought I’d give Bryony half hour to try and familiarise herself, because I know how much she enjoys things once she gets stuck in.”

“Thankfully, the people conducting the shoot were very patient and accommodating.” We expect all our clients to be really patient. If any of the children involved in the shoot don’t feel comfortable, and don’t want to be there, then the prints will come out badly, and the time and effort of organising the job will be wasted.

After a little while, once she had seen what was going on, it got a lot easy: “Bryony started joining in and thoroughly enjoyed herself. She made some new friends and had lots of fun in between shoots. It really helped build her confidence and she came away feeling very pleased with herself.”

The same can be true whether you’re a child or an adult when you have your first look into the modelling world; when we don’t know what to expect, a new experience can be daunting, even for the most confident people.

It seems that despite initial apprehension, Bryony’s caught the modelling bug. “Now that Bryony’s got some modelling experience she wants to go every week and do photo shoots”, and her mum has even thought of a way to keep the nerves at bay: “I don’t think I’ll let her know so early on that she’s doing modelling as that might’ve been part of her apprehensiveness. At least she’s given it a go and can now make her own mind up whether it’s something she’d like to do as a career one day.”

So how is modelling like marmite, dancing, or sprouts?  Just like figuring out what foods your little one loves and what they’re good at, it is nearly impossible to tell if they will enjoy modelling or hate it if they haven’t tried. Have a chat to a talent management agency for more information.