[Solved] Chid Actors

Our youth are living in a very different technological but unfriendly environment. As a person working with young people i often find that they have to switch. Homes have values and disciplines different from what society provides. Young people have to adapt to these different environments.
They are also clever than we think. They have to contend with different messages society is throwing at them.

Hi JJ,
Your post is very interesting...

However What I find fustrating sometimes is they tend to take the outside character to the wrong places and to often if used in the wrong way could cause alot of friction.

Could you write a bit more about this because I don't really understand, eg.
what you mean by taking the outside character to the wrong places (what places...)
and what is being used in the wrong way, and how...
and what sort of friction do you think or see being the result...

First of All can I understand, are you referring to (Child Actors) or Chid Actors so I know we are on the same wavelength.

Are you still there? Need a responses before I can proceed. : 😛

I had assumed that JJ meant that children had the capacity to behave differently in different settings (metophorically 'acting').
SO I understood this had NOTHING to do with children on stage / tv.
/Orange

Ok, as I am bubbly this morning lets take the discussion a bit further.
If (Child Actors) do you think they have learnt this from their homes,schools,friends or is it because they are still Children and are not mature yet?
Also do you think that they lack role models? and are therefore role modelling themselves around their peers?

Hi Millerzd,
I was really hoping to understand JJ a bit more before posting.... however I'm happy to chat.

I wonder whether the thing going on is, at least in part, related to maturing.
eg at home the way the home runs is understood (if not exactly how the child wants things to work), so there is one experience of trying to be independant.
Yet, out in the big world there are other things around: peers, the opposite [censored], the freedom to experiment with independance.
So my hunch is that each child will have experienced role models - but my fear is that they could (simplistically speaking) be from Action or lame comedy films/movies, without much constructive time spent with their Father / Uncle [thus not getting wisdom and advice].
So, in search of working out what independance is, there can be showing off to peers (to fit in with the guys); the will be 'strutting like a peacock' (in attempt to attract girls); and trying things out eg anything other people in society try.
I sense that some children have had a good start in life with good enough role models around them and with healthy experiences as they were growing - so they perhaps have better skills / ideas / more wisdom / a good sense of when something is going too far / and the ability to tell themselves to stop.
And at the other end of a continuum I think other children might have had a tough start with slightly toxic experiences as they grew up - leaving them with fewer ideas how to cope with the 'freedom' of doing whatever they want to when out and about (eg, putting themselves and others at risk when showing off to friends or getting stuck on something which is addictive).

So when things are 'going wrong' for children, my gut feeling is that the maturing of our youths requires a lot of positive support from responsible people around them. Firstly the home is a very powerful influence in the early years of childhood... but as children become teens I sense that the 'role models' shift to peers (i do what they do) and heroes (tv, film, music video ...)

I wonder whether a child's experience of 'authority' is important. Some youths respect authority and can therefore take on board guidance from society (don't do this, that or the other). Others might have learnt, from early role models, to ignore or fight against authority simply by adult's attitudes toward eg rent collector, benefit clerks, police ...).
So, if peers around a child have a poor attitude to authority/the structure of society, then 'acting' to show off to others can result in various difficulties as a youth discovers what to do with independance as they mature.

So I think there can be a tension between influences on a youth, eg: teachers; youth club leaders; sports coaches; others in 'authority' -and- the ideas of peers around them.

[sorry, rather a long reply... ]

Ok, Well an interesting angle. I agree peer pressure and off course hormones kicking in,daring to push even nature to the limit.
However I find based on social and economic status young people will act up amongst their peers. Show off their newsest hair styles, canvass gear perfume, etc. I also belive self confidence at times can work positively or negatively if not double negatively .

Children act up or respond based on what they have learnt from adults. I belive it is a power, recognition,acknowledgement, acquiring a space amongst their peers and in certain cases leadership or trying to find their identity and place in society. A projection of their feminity or masculinity.

I hadn't even thought about the self confidence side of things.... (that affected me a lot).
And I totally agree with your point about showing off whatever fits with them socially/economically.
I like the linkage between leadership/power/authority [too big to discuss here].

Could you explain what you mean by a projection of their feminity/masculinity? It sounds interesting.

Hi guys

What I was trying to put forward is that I notice youth act a certain way in front of certain people. And sometimes you see there reaction is sometimes
one that they've seen on tv, or in a music video.

Also I notice that they can put on a false image to someone who believes that what there putting forward is there true image and it causes tension as niether person wants to back down in there act.

an example is my 14 year old cousin teachers say he's brilliant at the work but the only threat is that he tries to act "hard" in front of the others to fit in so he doesn't show his true characters. But my fear is that youth will take on these make belief characters home and act different towards parents and they soon become so attached to that character that they struggle to be themselves.

JJ