My Friend's Experiences with Baby Casting Calls

My best friend and his wife recently went on a series of casting calls to try to get their daughter into commercials. This is not the first time that I have had friends do this, thinking that their child was going to be the next Gerber baby. I have to laugh whenever I see this happen, because I don't understand the obsession, and that is exactly what it is. I guess that they feel their baby is cuter than all of the rest of the babies in the world, and I have news for them - all parents feel that way!

The first of the baby casting calls I remember my friend and his wife taking their daughter to was one for a juice commercial. They were convinced that she would get the part and even informed all of us about what juice product it was and how we would all be supplied with crates of it when she got the part. Well, apparently a thousand other parents felt the exact same way and my friend's daughter did not even make the first cut. It was sad for them, because they really believed she would, but they certainly were not deterred in the least.

They next went to baby casting calls for two locally televised shows, as the shows' producers were looking for babies for a particular part on each show. Again, their daughter was not selected for either of the two shows and at this point, it appeared that they were starting to get discouraged. What was tough for me was watching them both work themselves into a frenzy trying to figure out what more they could do to increase their daughter's chances of achieving fame and fortune.

I told my friends about some of the baby casting calls that other friends of ours had been on and tried to explain as diplomatically as I could that it is rare to be selected for those things. They said they understood all of that, but wanted to keep trying anyway, because they knew their daughter was a star and that if they kept trying everyone else would see that as well. After about a dozen more auditions with no luck, they finally gave up and just let her grow up normally.

Baby casting calls are difficult to win and a lot of people believe that their child is the perfect one for the job. My wife and I made the decision never take our children to them, and I am very glad that we made that choice. I don't believe that there is anything wrong with it, necessarily, I just think that they can create false expectations at times.

Why So Many Couples Look For Babies For Adoption

In the last few years, I have had the opportunity to write articles about a couple of adoption agencies and families who want to adopt. The thing that struck me the most is that all of the families that I spoke to were looking for babies for adoption and not older children. I wondered why that was, but I did not want to ask any of the families themselves, so I spoke to a couple of the agencies and got some interesting responses, some of which I can understand, and others, quite frankly, that don't make any sense to me at all!

One of the things that a lot of adoption agencies told me was that parents look for babies for adoption more often because they feel like it is more their child. Many parents believe if they adopt a baby, they are raising it from such a young age that it might as well be their own, because all the baby has ever known is their love and nurturing. With a child that is even a few years old, some parents feel that they will not bond as well as they would with a baby, and therefore are only interested in adopting a baby.

Another reason that I heard for why some parents opt for babies for adoption is concern over emotional issues from having been raised in an orphanage or under foster care. I spoke with one couple, for instance, that said they saw a number of children who had been removed from certain foster homes because of abuse, and while they certainly felt for those children, they were also not sure if those children could ever really trust anyone. I think that is sad, but there might be a point to that as well.

One of the things that I heard from one of the adoption agencies that really repulsed me was that more people choose babies for adoption because they believe that babies are more lovable than older children. One person told me that she had suggested a number of young children to a woman who actually made faces before asking if there were any babies. I just cannot imagine seeing a group of children in that situation and not wanting to take them all home, much less acting like they are not as desirable as babies just because they are a few years older!

The reasons some people look for babies for adoption over older children are many. That is not to say that there are not adoptive parents out there who have adopted older children. I have just met many such parents who were only interested in babies, and would not even give the older children a chance.

My Grandmother's Interest in Images of Children Playing

When I was a youngster, I would go to my grandmother's house and spend the night. It was always so much fun, and she was always so happy to see me. I remember she had a lot of pictures throughout her house and I also remember noticing that most of them were images of children playing. I decided to ask her one day why she had so many images of children playing, and she said it was to remind her of me and my siblings when we were away, but for other reasons, as well.

My grandmother told me that her favorite sound in the world was hearing children laughing. In all of the images of children playing that my grandmother had in her home, the children were laughing. She said that just seeing the young people laughing in the pictures reminded her of that sound. I remember that she used to sit out in the back yard with me and my brother and sister and watch us play, just to hear us laughing and having a good time, and I could tell it meant a lot to her.

I also learned that my grandmother kept images of children playing in her home because her father always liked having a houseful of children. My grandmother told me that her father was the nicest man she had ever known, and said he loved children because he felt that they kept him young at heart. She told me that she felt the same applied to her, and that because she could not be around us all of the time, she wanted to have pictures of children surrounding her to keep her in good cheer.

She said that she also liked to keep images of children playing around her home because her friends liked them. Apparently, she had shared those same stories that she told us with all of her friends, and every time they came over they would comment on all of her pictures. I was over there one time when they were playing bridge, and they talked about one of the pictures in particular for a long time. It was clear that they were all interested in the picture and liked it a lot.

The images of children playing meant a lot of my grandmother and she had them in her home until the day she passed away. She passed the pictures down to my sister, who still has them set up in her own home. She tells her own children about the stories our grandmother told us, so they will continue to live on to the next generation in our family.