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Shelle's avatar

When each of my children were babies, they had the most wonderful expressions at home, but when I took them out they often looked at other people quite blankly much of the time, like they were retreating into themselves a bit until the strangers went away. People they got to know would see their true selves more, but still, they saved their sweetest looks for at home.

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Marissa's avatar

All of the logistical problems with having babies or small children appear in TV or film are even more pronounced when it comes to theater. Not that there aren't sensible, practical reasons for this, but it means we're in a place where it's easier to stage a story about a family grieving the tragic death of a young child (e.g. "Rabbit Hole" by David Lindsay-Abaire) than a story about the experience of parenting a young child.

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Naomi Kanakia's avatar

This is a good point!

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Michael Wheatley's avatar

Where is the link to the study? Did I miss it?

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sympathetic opposition's avatar

thank you for noticing!!! it was supposed to be in "one of them," i fixed it

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Michael Wheatley's avatar

I suspect that for most people, TV families model family for them more than real life families do (excepting their own). You just plain have a more intimate look into the inner lives of various sitcom families than those of your friends and acquaintances. And TV families seldom have more than two kids for logistical reasons.

- They're a handful on set

- You don't need more than one or two to unlock almost all child-related plotlines.

- They age out of their roles

- When that happens, it's luck of the draw whether they grow into someone who's decent at acting.

- The contents of this article.

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ALT's avatar

Simulcasting Babies (2010) to save the world.

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