From a Parent to a Parent: Lower your own stress

Lower your own stress.  A parent of a child actor has to drop everything to run to an audition the next day with less than 12 hours notice many times. Then the parent has to drive 1-2 hours (sometimes more) to get the child to an audition, which may last 20 seconds (then drive home another 1-2 hours).  On top of that, you have to make sure your child continues his/her training. So this means taking your day or evening off and driving another 1 hour to get your child to acting classes—All this in the hopes that your child “makes it.” These things absolutely cause tension and stress. Here is the biggest problem (aside from increasing your blood pressure); if your child catches on that their craft causes you stress, they may start to think this is not the right thing for them. They may want to quit for the wrong reasons. So what to do?  Make sure that you let people, schools, and work know in advance that you have a child actor and may have to reschedule if an audition is scheduled last minute.  Just knowing that you have let them know in advance lowers the stress of having to reschedule.  Have a back up driver available just in case you have something scheduled that you really should not miss. Plan to do exercises in the car with your kid to practice or rehearse their lines. Pick exercises your child is most comfortable with. Play games during the trip. Make them say/act their lines with different voices/emotions. After you are done with the drive, you feel like a lot was accomplished even before going in to the audition.  Lastly, you already have to drive all over anyway, make sure you pick a school that is near you. Don’t add more stress of wasting time driving or paying for more gas, when there is a school closer to you. A school is not good just because it is near Hollywood, Beverly Hills, or Century City.