7 AWESOME SKILLS AND BENEFITS YOUR KID WILL GAIN FROM ACTING
Al Pacino said “The actor becomes an emotional athlete.“ And it is true. Any actor, model or dancer masters certain skills to become great at their craft. But being a part of the industry and it’s ways in itself can teach a lot. From putting yourself out there in front of the public eye to having to understand different characters – performers develop a lot of crucial experience. All of this is very beneficial. Even more so for children who are preparing for an adult life and are much more adept at learning and taking in new information.
Here are 7 important skills your kid will be able to master from acting, modeling and simply being a part of the entertainment industry.
1. EMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING OF PEOPLE
Putting themselves in another person’s shoes when playing a character can help develop empathy and an understanding of people’s motives. Once a child has to try and feel like another feels, they can gain a new perspective on what it is to be a human. It’s a crucial skill to learn early on in life and will highly influence your kids social abilities in their adulthood.
2. COMMUNICATION WITH PEOPLE OF ALL AGE GROUPS
The entertainment industry is a very diverse place. Your kid will be working with fellow children and adult professionals. They will learn how to communicate with people of all kinds of backgrounds and age groups. Working on different projects will also teach them to adapt to new people and environments.
3. SELF-EXPRESSION AND COMFORT WITH OWN EMOTIONS
Performing requires finding and expressing different kinds of emotions within yourself. Practicing this your children will become comfortable with themselves and gain self confidence. They will understand emotions better and it will become easier to access them adding to the development of empathy.
4. DISCIPLINE
Having to be on time for auditions and productions, your kid can learn to discipline themselves and be punctual. Following the ever changing directions given by directors also teaches self-control. Now, we can’t deny that will be an extremely useful ability when your kid grows up.
5. MAKE NEW FRIENDS
Most importantly, as children they will meet lots of other kids in auditions and projects. They may be working together on different productions for longer periods of time. They will be able to gain new friends who enjoy the same things and have the same hobbies. Isn’t that just a wonderful benefit?!
6. LEARNING FROM CRITICISM
It is no secret that directors can be critical of the people they work with. They have a clear vision in their mind and their team needs to work on achieving that vision. Therefore, your kid will get directions and will receive criticism both during auditions and when working on projects. But if they get help in understanding the criticism, they will gain the extremely important skill of learning and improving from it instead of taking it personally.
7. PUBLIC SPEAKING
Audience is inescapable in this industry. From auditioning to working on films, theaters or runways, your kid’s performance will be seen. At first it can be nerve wracking even for adults. Who are we kidding – some adults still get shaky after years of speaking in public. But it does get better and easier with time. As a performer, your kid will have a lot of experience in public speaking and with every new performance it will become that much easier for them to do it the next time.