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.