EVERY KID A STAR

PUSHED BY PARENTS TO ACHIEVE OR TREATED LIKE TINY ADULTS, SOME OF TODAY'S CHILDREN ARE PAYING THE PRICE

Once the ideal child was seen and not heard. But the times and the culture have changed. More and more often a child is seen on national television and heard roaring around the world. Sons and daughters have become the projection of their parents' dreams and the repository of their hopes. "We're moving, in a cultural sense, in the direction of having every kid be a star," says James Dawson, head of the Professional Children's School in Manhattan, which is attended by aspiring and professional actors, musicians, figure skaters and models. "By doing that, of course, what you really say to...

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