The increase in private and pay-TV channels has meant that the demand for children to work in advertisements and television series is growing.
Curiously, and perhaps this has something to do with the current economic crisis, the offer It has also skyrocketed, currently having twice as many children who choose to get a job that two years ago.
This situation can be valued especially for the good of the little ones, because in many cases they have abusive schedules, they cannot study and their childhood is seriously affected by family and social pressure.
The problem is that child labor in shows is not properly monitored. In article 6 of the Workers Statute we can read: "The intervention of children under 16 in public shows will only be authorized in exceptional cases by the labor authority (...) and for certain acts", however, nobody controls that exceptionality. These types of authorizations are usually given in bulk (up to 70 or 80 children at times) and the prosecutor is informed that he does not review them on a case-by-case basis unless there is a complaint.
This means that there is no one to verify that work schedules or conditions in which children are (hours in the sun, in waiting rooms, ...) are adequate, that fame is not psychologically affecting the child, that there is no pressure on the child "to do it right" or where the money he earns ends.
According to the Civil Code the earnings of a minor in this situation should become part of their personal assets, however, it is allowed to detract an important part for the support of family charges and this is where the control of money escapes, since it admits various interpretations.
In other countries, on the other hand, the money must go to a minor's account that cannot be touched until it reaches the age of majority.
According to a specialist in castings children the important thing to regulate the work of these children and abuse would be “The control of money. If the parents could not touch what the child earns, they would continue to take their children to those tests only those who think about the child's good and dozens of situations of pressure and abuse would be avoided. ”
The child psychologist José Antonio Luengo comments that in some of these children, if they spend too many hours working and are not allowed psychological development in an environment of equals (growing up among other children), with a healthy health and a balanced family environment, the emotional development suffers and It affects both childhood and adult life.
“The effects are not seen the next day, but over time. It also happens to children who work in professional sports, ” comments Luengo.
In adulthood live the difficulties of denaturing childhood: “I have lost many things” or “I thought it would be like this all my life” These are phrases that many former artist children tell him.
The actors in Madrid have won an agreement for the theater in which children aged 4 to 16 cannot work more than five hours a day, rehearsals included.
For the filming of advertisements and television series, however, there is no regulation of this type and it is the representatives or parents who have to watch over the children.
Even so, there are times when children do the same schedules as adult actors (picking them up at home at eight in the morning to return them at seven in the afternoon) and the parents themselves ask that nothing be done because the work of the Boy or girl is saving their lives.
A child working doing television series or commercials (or doing theater or in a circus) is still a child labor situation and should therefore be totally regulated and monitored to avoid abuses, pressures and excesses that may affect them.
