My child model

Back in June, Noah had some photos done through his kindy. As I was expecting it to be another day, I did not dress him up in smarter clothes, but instead he had his photos taken wearing his usual play clothes.

When we received his photos, Tim and I were pleasantly surprised at how wonderful the photos turned out. I think Tim and I always get surprised when Noah "does things" on his own - without any coaxing from us at all. There was no Mummy nor Daddy to be saying "cheese" nor jumping up and down trying to make him smile/laugh.

Since we were so pleased with the photos, I secretly sent them to a child modelling agency. Now Tim and I think that we have a gorgeous boy and we have always wondered whether he has the look to do some catalogue work.

Trying to find an agency who is not all about ripping parents off was hard. I read up on a lot of feedback from different forums I belonged to. It was a chat with a friend from my Mothers Group who was actually signed up with a particular agency that led us to making contact with the agency.

I emailed Noah's photos to them. In my email I stipulated that if they did not think that Noah had the look, it was okay. I did not want to waste their time as much as I did not want to waste ours. I would be contented enough thinking that I have a beautiful son.

The director emailed back and said that Noah is very cute and extremely photogenic. She openly informed us that the problem/issue with toddlers like Noah is their temperament and if you have been around toddlers, you will know that one minute they can be as sweet as apple pie giving you cuddles and doing anything you ask and the next minute they are driving you bananas with their stubbornness.  The director suggested that we come in to their office so that they can gauge Noah's temperament. And so we did.

Noah was amazingly wonderful during the meet up. He was charismatic and on his best behaviour.  Noah did his best to answer the questions he was asked. It was almost as if he knew his temperament was being looked at.

I learned many things during the information session. It was good that the agency was very open and did not come across as to be preying on vulnerable parents. I was given the run down on how it all works, their clients, fees and commissions and the possibility of work coming into fruition.

I took everything as a matter of fact.

We parted with the lady telling us that they will have a look if they have room for Noah in their books and for us to to really consider if this is something that we want to do. She said that she will be in touch sometime the following week.

We received our phone call yesterday, informing us that they are interested in signing him up and asked if we wanted to go ahead.

We decided against it, for now.

Now, I am not sure if every parent out there share my sentiments but as I said earlier, when I see catalogues and ads with babies/toddlers, I often think that my children could possibly good looking enough to be in them. However, little did I realise that there is so much work involved, and not just for the child.

The reality is that when a job comes up that Noah might be suitable for, I will have to be ready to take him for the casting. It will be my job to drive him around and to ensure that he is in the right mood. I will also need to ensure that he is able to follow directions, which I know he can given the feedback I get from his carers and watching him progress through his swim class. However, I still get nervous when it is a new person asking him to do things. I never know whether he will follow or not. It will also mean that if a casting falls on a day when he is in daycare, we will have the issue of whether we would want to pull him out instead of letting him have fun with his friends and carers. Keep in mind that if Noah attends a casting, it does not automatically mean that he will get the job. Fruition might be elusive despite the investment of our time and energy. It is a massive commitment.

Besides, do I really want to do this with Eliza, trying to juggle her sleeps and feeds?

Tim and I might reassess when Noah gets a bit older...when we can be truly confident that we have a better handle on his emotions and temperament. In the meantime, we will just enjoy the fact that we have beautiful photos to look at.