From the beloved child stars of Disney, to the voices of animated characters, children have always been a part of them. Channels such as Disney channel have TV shows with nothing but children in them, But is using children as our entertainment wrong, should there be a ban on children under a certain age, or not meeting certain requirements, performing. Should there be laws set in place? Does children performing in movies and television shows for money hurting them, forcing them to not have any sort of a child hood, not getting the education needed for success in the real world when they outgrow their characters on the TV shows, or the sequels in the movies? The answer to all of those question is yes, there should be a ban, or even a limit on children performing in movies and television. We are limiting their childhood, making them stressed, making them have no education, or any skills in the real world, creating psychological disorders, making the child a potentially unhappy and troubled adult.

            In the educational area, a study in Britain shows that child performers need only 3 hours of schooling per day, also, these children can have lessons such as acting or dancing as their formal instruction for the 3 hours of the day. These trends aren’t going to help with an educated population, and are most definitely not going to make the child successful when they are adults in the real world.

            Children are very impressionable, and in most cases, don’t know what is best for them, and can’t make their own decisions. This leaves parents and authority figures to the decision making for the child. But are children being exploited, are adults and people such as agents, parents, and productions taking advantage of the children?  Some actors have gone so far to block their funds and make sure that no one exploit them, by making their parents have no access to their funds, and in some cases, child stars such Jackie Coogan and Gary Coleman have sued their parents for spending their earnings as children.

            Children deserve a childhood, they deserve growing up, enjoying their childhood, they shouldn’t be pushed in the stressful adult job of being an actor full time. Child performers are being introduced to adult hood at a very young age. Children have to be forced to be extremely mature at a very young age, they are forced into adult situations when they are not prepared for them because of their age. Many child performers have passed their prime before they reach adulthood. They have reached adult hood, now what can they do with their lives? They were child stars, not adult stars, they had minimal education as a child, no idea how the real world is, and no child hood, there is almost nothing that child performers can do after they grow up.

            There are laws set in place, laws that demand education, but very little of it, and limited hours that they can work. There are so many laws that the government has to deal with, but if there was a complete ban on child performers under the age of 18, there would be much less work to be done, and there would be no need for the laws that are set in place now. We are taking the children’s opportunity of a child hood away, there is always a chance when they are adults to become actors and performers, but children deserve a childhood, and need to enjoy it.