A Star Is Born...

...but will her mother survive the delivery?

By Kathryn Robinson

Even as I fretted that the damn humidity might flatten her curls.

The program turned out to be an infomercial about how the modeling and acting taught by the agency instill essential life skills such as poise and self—confidence, then listed some of the “big-name child actors” who had graduated from its ranks. “Mom,” my daughter whispered, confused. “I’ve never heard of most of these kids.”

And then the big moment, in which each child walked into a hot pool of klieg light to recite her line for the camera. First up was an annoyingly animated little blonde who could talk anytime! Anywhere! And not! Break Mom and Dad’s bank account!! Ham, I dissed inwardly. The next was slicker, more practiced, better. Meh, I thought. Nowhere near cute as my kid.

And my kid did great, really, never mind that she went a little deer-in-the-headlights on camera and had to be asked to speak up. Twice. “A bit of a shy actor but could thrive as a print model,” came the verdict from our personal consultant. My daughter’s verdict? “Ugh…deadly,” she declared. “Honey, you were great!” I chirped. She looked me square in the face. “Mom, I was so not great.”

“But was it…fun?”

She fixed me with that are-you-out-of-your-mind gaze preteen girls invented. “You know, Mom, you and Daddy were right,” she said. “This whole thing just really does not feel like me. It’s so…so… gloppy.”

A hundred phrases formed in my head, then lodged in my throat. Honey, you were terrific! You were! So much better than that little pink princess with the updo! You have so much more…depth than the rest of these posers! You could be a star!

I looked into her eyes and, for the millionth time since she was born, admired her. “You have no idea how proud I am to be the mother of a girl who knows who she is and who she isn’t,” I told her. And how appalled I am to be a mother who so readily loses sight of the difference.

But…print modeling, huh? On our way out I discreetly tucked a flyer into my purse. College fund, you know.