The Rocky Road To Childhood Stardom

So you think your child has what it takes to be a star, and you want to help on his or her road to stardom. But there are potential problems along the way. Take stage parents. Sometimes worthy advocates for their children, sometimes train wrecks.

Start back in the 1930's, when child star Jackie Coogan played "the Kid," a waif to the equally comic-tragic Charlie Chaplin in movies. Coogan's run made him worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Problem was, Coogan's parents squandered it all. Coogan's plight became a major lawsuit whose settlement codified the role assumed and the proper assistance to be given by parents when their child becomes a star property.

The thick overlay of Coogan Laws since then outlasted his career, which included a stint on the popular Addams Family television show (ABC television). He played oddball Uncle Fester, which was an ironic role for a man who slowly and painfully gained business acumen through a troubled childhood. The child labor laws were drafted for the hundreds of unfortunate youths who died in sweat shops and mines, but courts have used the same laws (which were federal in scope and power) to protect pampered child stars.

But there is more.

Fast moving to the present, luminaries such as Macaulay Culkin, Gary Coleman, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan have encountered Coogan problems, though not as severely as poor old Jackie. The concept of Mom-agers - shorthand for moms and dads who manage hot little properties who happen to be their kids - is hardly new, but the problems faced by Jackie and Shirley Temple have unfortunately been joined by other modern-day issues.

There is a conflict of interest in many aspects of a child being managed by his or her parent which translates into these Mom-agers doing questionable things for their child's career. Consider badly managed investments, which seek to maximize the parent-manager's profit but in reality often serve as the harbinger of doom for the child star's dependent family. The same goes for parents working their children to the bone, also in the hopes of creating a larger monetary return. Moreover, there are constant concerns regarding how a parent, as an employee of his or her child, should be salaried for the week that he or she does.

Movie studios get into the act because they are employing minors. In the past, studios who were enlightened and movie moguls, such as Walt Disney, who had a kind heart shielded child stars like the Mouseketeers from the glare of publicity but also from loss of an education. Adding onto the plethora of Mom-ager issues from above, parents also are more obligated today than they were seventy years ago about ensuring that their children are receiving an education. Coupled with parental worries how much the child star is raking in, there is a recipe for disaster with this continued parent-manager trend.

Middle cars in the freight train are matters of public policy and taste. Some parents actively solicit what can be called pornography roles for children, often putting their child stars in adult and therefore age-inappropriate situations involving rape and drug use. Some call it tastefully done and artsy. Some call it an abomination and call in the state bureau of child protection. Children and money do not mix well in the most modest of circumstances, and adding millions of dollars to the mix just adds to the potential for disaster in an already anxiety-ridden situation.

That's the front end and the caboose of stage parenting, which includes movies, music and the arts. Avoiding the split rail is your job. Mom-agers and train wrecks are not a foregone conclusion. But it's a likely combination without some knowledge of what has happened since the Kid stole the first scenes away from Charlie Chaplin.