How does child modelling in Ireland affect the kids?

One of the biggest fashion retailers in the US, who count Michelle Obama amongst their customers, has just hired an Irish child for their latest ad campaign. How big is child modelling in this country and what’s involved for the kid, asks Caroline Delaney

Sam Dicker in an Ulster Bank shoot

When the kids ask for just a few ‘small things’ — like a pony, a bike, an iPad and a dozen x-box games — for Christmas; or when they smear Nutella on the couch, you might be tempted to decide they have to earn their keep. Or maybe you’re still in that smitten new parent phase where you genuinely believe a talent scout is going to swoop down as you shuffle to the shop and simply insist your angelic baby is the face of their next big campaign. So perhaps you’ve considered signing your little angel up to a modelling agency

How bad can it be? They frolic around in party clothes, take a break every so often for some schooling from an on-set tutor and you quit your job to be their manager and enjoy weekly mother-and-six-year-old daughter spa treatments.