1. Letting Kids' Imagination Run Wild And The Creativity Flow Freely
The ability to use imagination and create from it is one of the fundamentals of becoming and continuing as an actor. It would be a tough task, or even pretty much an impossible one, to portray the very different characters from various acting gigs, as well as interpret the given scripts in a way that displays depth and authenticity in the final delivery, if the performer does not know how to use their imagination and creativity in all of its glory.
Parents can cultivate their aspiring kid actors' freedom of imagination in varied ways on an everyday basis, as such encouragement will develop their ability to create imaginative ideas, including their own characters and stories. It can later directly convey to their acting endeavours, as they will have a higher capacity for scene interpretation and role character development.
One of such ways that parents can encourage their child’s imaginative growth is through reading. As they enjoy an age-appropriate literature, parents can make it more fun for the child by offering them to predict what happens next within the plot of the story. Following the end of the book, families can discuss the plot, encouraging the young reader to come up with their own ideas to extend what they just read.
Of course, traditional outlets for creativity, such as drawing, painting, or crafting, still work amazingly for the development of children’s imagination and creativity. It does not even have to be physical anymore, as kids can be introduced to digital software for similar activities, including drawing apps or editing pre-existing content to match their creative ideas.
As the kid explores their own imaginative possibilities, discovering a real sense of wonder through it, their creativity improves its flexibility and originality, which can be highly useful even beyond acting aspirations.
2. Bringing Kids Attentive And Verbal Skills To The Next Level
At the foundation of the art of acting is both verbal communication and non-verbal communication. A child who struggles with their verbal skills would likely struggle to perform up to their full potential at auditions, so parents should look into ways to help their child actor to naturally improve in this aspect at an age when the brain is rapidly developing these skills.
The first communication children will have in their lives usually happens at home, so parents should aim to thoroughly talk with their kid about various subjects, encouraging a natural back and forth discussions with the future acting hopeful. It is important that during everyday hustle and bustle, parents do not neglect their child’s communication attempts, as regular responses will teach the youngster the importance of communication, as well as give them the chance to further improve it.
Understanding non-verbal communication is also important for kid actors, so parents can teach them basics, like learning what certain regular postures and expressions mean, e.g., crossed hands, by thinking out loud in front of the child while making those respective gestures. It will later help aspiring kid actors to better portray their emotions during performances, instead of only relying on verbal skills.
3. Cultivating Kids' Emotional Literacy
A part of being an actor is the ability to show specific emotions that may not match how they feel at the given moment. It requires a certain emotional literacy level to be able to have the empathy to feel with others may feel, without added personal judgement, in this case, the role’s character from the script.
Parents can help the child with this matter by teaching them to go beyond labeling emotions only good or bad, but instead discussing them more in depth, thus helping the kid to recognize nuance in them as well as understand their causes.
Not every type of emotion will appear in a family's daily life, so things seen in the media or pop culture can be discussed as examples for the kid, explaining them to the youngster in an age-appropriate way. They can even be encouraged to pretend-play at home to have a better grasp on how to portray certain emotions, in the process learning to articulate their own feelings better as well.
4. Teaching Kids The Joys And Benefits Of Collaborating With Others
The art of acting is pretty much a constant collaboration with others, from fellow actors to the production staff. It is yet another skill and understanding that first starts at their own home, as the kid will initially learn it from their parents.
There are quite a few ways for parents to teach their kids the joys of collaborating. It can be as simple as inviting the kid to join them at various household chores, including cooking meals, tackling laundry, or making decisions on where on the wall to put a painting. As long as the child has a clear understanding of what is expected of him during the chore, and what the end goal of the collaborative actions is, they will learn the basics of how to work as a team.
It is hard to predict how fun helping with the chores will feel to the kid, so parents can, in turn, also join their child’s activities. Working on a project together, such as building a toy from scratch, or by using plastic brick construction toys, can be a lot of fun for the child, while also seeing the benefits of having the help of others at hand while striving to achieve a common goal.
5. Improving And Fostering Kids' Adaptability
Working as an actor is not your average 9-to-5 in terms of the job’s predictability. Circumstances during a project can change quickly with short notice, forcing everyone involved to quickly adapt to the given situation while showing resilience about the whole thing. It can be especially frustrating to kid actors who are not used to staying calm during sudden shifts in situations they are in, especially if they can be perceived as negative to them.
While parents certainly should not disappoint their children on purpose, they can use various minor setbacks in daily life to guide them through it by encouraging them to think about the given situation first, and then discussing it by explaining how it is just another step towards new opportunities. By managing kids’ expectations and exposing them to the concepts of problem-solving in daily life, the aspiring young actor will also be more prepared for the challenges of that particular lifestyle.
