Personal experience of an immigrant: how it is to raise a child in New York

The average price of a kindergarten per month is $ 1200, clothes are cheaper than in Belarus, and they pay an average of $ 100 per hour for shooting in advertising. Olga from Minsk talked about how much it costs to live with a child in the largest city in America and how the children's modeling business is organized here. This is stated in the project "Our Abroad" edition TUT.BY.

Olga Kokhan moved to New York in 2016. She brings up her two-year-old daughter Neva, who is already acting in commercials with major fashion brands. In Minsk, Olga worked in the PR department of the hotel. Here, she was not able to immediately find a job in her specialty. The girl realized that she needed to get additional education, but did not have time - her daughter was born.

How everything works in the USA

In America, child benefits are not given, and the very concept of "maternity leave" does not exist. You may be allowed to go on vacation at your own expense, but for no more than three months. “Then do whatever you want: hire a nanny, send your child to kindergarten or quit your job. Therefore, many of my acquaintances left their vacation after 6-12 weeks after giving birth, ”says Olga.

Since Olga's husband had a job, she did not, the decision was logical. “As long as my daughter is very young, I will be with her. But I could not sit idle for a long time. I decided to try my hand at the modeling industry with my daughter, - said Olga. - My sister was fond of modeling and studied at the school of Sergei Nagorny, so I heard something about this area. I was finally pushed by how often strangers on the street said that the Neva was very beautiful and had a model smile. And once an unknown woman even asked to take a photo of her. "

Children's modeling business

New York is the world capital of fashion. They shoot ads for top brands, TV shows and movies. Therefore, such professions as a model or actress are mundane here. At the same time, they pay decently for such work.

According to Olga, the children's modeling business is arranged a little differently than the adult. “He is not so cruel and competitive, because a small child is unpredictable, he cannot be controlled or forced to do something if he does not want to. Today he is smiling and trusting, and tomorrow he no longer goes into the hands of strangers. This is treated with understanding. They will never reproach if the kid is capricious or refuses to act, ”she explained.

The woman approached the choice of agency thoroughly. She studied all the available information on the Internet and found out what agencies are on the market.

To get on the set, she first wrote to brands directly, but they made it clear that they only work through agencies. “In general, agencies in the city can be divided into exclusive and non-exclusive,” Olga said. - Exclusive partners cooperate with large brands, it is much more difficult to get into the pool with them. Working with exclusive agencies assumes that the child only under the name of this agency goes to auditions. Non-exclusive are small agencies that send information from various large (exclusive) agencies, and today the child represents Zuri at the casting, and tomorrow - Generation. Their main disadvantage is that you have to make double deductions: to both the intermediary agency and the main agency. "

Olga added that she and her daughter started working with Munchkin star management. Later we moved to the famous and large New York model management. “In order to start cooperating with the agency, I sent them photographs and indicated the height, weight, size of Neva's clothes and shoes,” she added.

You have to wait for a response from agencies from a month to two. When an affirmative answer is received, you need to collect documents: a work permit, a doctor's certificate and open a bank account in the name of the child. “The first agencies responded to our request rather quickly, but my daughter and I were at the first casting two months later. The procedure is transparent: they send you information about the brand that ordered the advertisement, where the casting takes place, how much the model will earn in case of a contract, and they will not even forget to attach a map of the road, ”Olga said.

Castings themselves are not always organized clearly. Up to 500 children can take part in them, and sometimes you have to wait two hours before getting to the “reception”.

Monthly, you need to update information about the model: indicate the height and weight of the child, which are changing rapidly. The agency also needs to be warned if you are going on vacation.

Some companies do not set aside a budget for casting. Then the models are selected according to the photos sent by the parents. They can be done simply on the phone.

The first shoots for advertising

The first order, in which Neva participated, concerned the promotion of a drug for the RotaTeq company. “The photo was distributed all over the world, but it wasn’t shared with us, and I didn’t find it on the web. According to the contract, the images belong to the customer, ”said the girl's mother.

She added that sometimes you can arrange with photographers to share photos after shooting. However, in 99% of cases they cannot do this, since they do not have ownership of the image.

Among the big brands that the two-year-old Neva worked with was Levi's. “We filmed both for billboards and for video. The shooting took place in two days. All the filming was attended by an animator who entertained the children and did not let them get bored, ”said the mother.

Payment can be received after shooting. First, you sign the voucher, then - send it to the agency, which is obliged to deposit funds into the child’s account for up to three months. At the end of the year you need to pay tax and file a tax return.

How much do they pay for participation in advertising?

They pay for work in the modeling business in different ways. On average, $ 100-120 per hour. But there could be more. “Levi's paid $ 300 a day. Filming is more expensive: for example, Kidbox (our highest paid filming) - $ 1000 minus taxes. Neva also starred in the collection of brands Jessica Simpson, Old navy, MAGNUS & AXEL, Macy's, Rubies costumes, Skip Hop, Andy & Evan, Delta Children, Shane Co, Saks !, Party City, Lamaze and others, "said the girl's mother.

“Agencies are starting to cooperate with children from 6 months of age. Children can work no more than four hours a day. The child will not be allowed to recycle: this is carefully monitored, - added the mother of the little model. - If suddenly on the set the child is capricious and does not want to act, he will not be forced. Not only that, for the fact that you came and were ready to shoot, money will still be paid as for a shooting hour. "

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Baby food, clothing and kindergarten in the USA

Foods in America are categorized as organic and non-organic. “People think that all the food here is terrible, but it's not that simple. It is quite possible to find good products for reasonable money. But recently I was faced with the fact that I cannot buy porridge without sugar - all with additives. In general, it seems to me that local parents are not very worried about what to feed the child, ”Olga dismissed. She said that while her daughter is eating berries and healthy foods, parents feed other children chicken nuggets and fries. “I think this is not the case in all families, but the general trend can be traced,” she said.

As for the clothes, this is easy here. The stores constantly offer discounts, arrange sales, there are stocks where inexpensive branded clothing is sold. “For example, three pairs of bodysuits can be bought for $ 8 and sneakers for $ 20-50,” she said. - A friend called me once and offered to send something from Belarus as a gift. I listened to her story about prices and answered that it is not necessary: ​​in New York, prices for children's clothes are lower than in Belarus. "

Among the disadvantages of living in the United States is that kindergarten, even for children under three, is paid. At the same time, the attitude towards visiting here is loyal. “Children are taken to kindergarten when it is convenient for their parents: in the morning, 1-2 times a week, or they are brought in every afternoon after lunch,” she said. In addition, after three years in New York State, a child can be transferred to a free kindergarten, and then sent to a free school, where a special bus will take him.

On average, one month in a kindergarten here costs $ 1200. The kindergarten is open from 7 am to 7 pm, but if the parent wants to send the child to some circles based on the kindergarten, then you need to pay another 100 dollars for each.

The attitude towards children in New York is good. They constantly smile and strive to help mothers. “Due to the fact that all the shooting takes place in the city center, in Manhattan, and because of the constant traffic jams, I often have to travel by subway. There they always give way to a woman with a child, and if she gets lost, they will tell you where to go, - Olga gave an example. - Once in the subway a guy who did not have one arm helped me to lower the wheelchair. Buses run along special lanes here, so getting to the center is quite simple and quick. The buses have special ramps that are lowered by the driver to make it easy for mothers to roll the stroller inside. "

The difficulties of living with children in the USA

Difficulties can arise when a family with a child needs to rent an apartment. No one will say directly that the apartment is not rented to families. However, they may refuse for another reason. “The fact is that if the family has a small child, but the parents cannot pay the rent for any reason, then they cannot be evicted on the street. Therefore, among landlords there is a very wary attitude towards families with children, ”Olga explained.

There are also nuances associated with the work of social services. “For example, the three of us can live in an apartment with one bedroom and a living room, but if another child appears, the service may require moving to a larger apartment,” she said.

At the same time, the United States is closely monitoring the problem of domestic violence. So, if the child fell in the kindergarten and hit, then the neighbors can call a check, because they decided that you hit him. Social services will find out what really happened.

The Benefits of Living with Children in America

There are no problems with where to spend time with a child in New York. Olga and her family live in a private sector on an island in Staten Island, near the ocean. “This is a very green area in New York with a lot of parks and recreation areas. The island is connected with the "mainland" by huge bridges, but the developed infrastructure does not give the feeling that we live somewhere in the suburbs. You need to walk 10 minutes to the playground, but if you get bored, you can have a great time in the museums (they are interactive here) or go to the entertainment center or just take the express route and go to Manhattan, ”she said.

Now little Neva is just beginning to speak, but already understands two languages. “At home - Russian, on the set and on walks - English. When you go to the kindergarten, the environment will be predominantly English-speaking. She does not speak very many words yet, but this is due to the fact that her daughter is in a bilingual environment: usually bilinguals begin to speak later. I think that there will be no big problems and by the age of three she will speak two languages, ”the girl's mother suggested.