Quote From: funyunsi would just like to inform you that, you DO NOT know the children, all you see is what the producers WANT you to see therefore, you really truely can't tell if the child is happy, and i am a personal friend of Bridget's daughter and let me tell you she is extremely happy with what she does she loves to sing, all the time.........trust me i know, and if she really doesn't want to do it then she really doesn't have to not only that but its good to be punished because some people just let there kids grow up without punishment and when they make a mistake at something they just quit.and all Bridget wants is for her child to get out of this "great" little town we live in and follow her dreams and if she wants to be a singer then she has to start NOW because there are So many others out there wanting the same thingbut know one is there to push them or even support them...so you just need to back off!
I may not know "those" children but I do know "Bridget"
One of my friends had a son who was an actor. He was driven to auditions several times a week from the time he was 8 years old (usually 2 or 3 hours of driving which meant they had to leave at 4 or 5 a.m. to get there). He missed a lot of school and when his marks suffered, his mom would argue with the school until they brought his marks up. After each audition, she would grill him... What did they say? What did you say? OHMYGOD WHY DID YOU SAY THAT??? If he didn't get a role, he would have to "work harder" for the next audition until he was staying up until after midnight (oh, he doesn't like to go to bed early anyway) practicing lines for a stupid commercial that was written for someone younger than he is or blonder or taller or shorter because often, not getting a role had nothing to do with the childs performance.
He was in 3 major movies (small roles but very well paid) before he was 13 and then, suddenly he was being told by the adults in his life that he was going through an "awkward phase" ... those zits were so horrible he needed to see a specialist (they were perfectly normal li'l acne zits most every child gets) and his diet had to be restricted. When well meaning friends (obviously you're not one of those since you watched that poor childs sadness and you're here on the defensive instead of talking to your friend Bridget) would tell her that she was pushing too hard, all we heard was that he loved it. I pointed out the sadness in him but she wouldn't see it.
No surprise that this child is 18 now and has a grade 10 education (but tons of money in the bank for the college education he's never going to get) and a thriving drug habit. He's estranged from his mom and very angry. I'm estranged from his mom also because I felt a need to let her know how detrimental the things she was doing were to her son. I couldn't just sit by and watch him be abused because that's exactly what it is. Verbal and emotional abuse that threatens a childs esteem.
When he turns 21, the money he made from all his childhood work will be his and it will likely completely ruin his life. He's an addict and the money will enable him to be really good at that unless he is able to pull himself out of the hole he's in right now.
The thing that I find kind of surprising is that neither of his parents can see any fault in how they handled him. They still marvel at the fact that "good" parents like them could have raised such a son. He's the exact same age as my son. My poor kid always had a set bedtime, didn't miss school to perform and yet he's at a college for the arts pursuing a career in comedy. I didn't have to drive him anywhere... the drive was in HIM.
