I'm the daughter of a mother and the mother of a daughter. Guess I'm lucky I'm not a son of a bitch...

Lemme tell ya, it ain't easy. I wouldn't trade it, though when I found out I was having another child and that child would be a girl, I was scared shitless. To put it mildly, my mother and I did not get along when I was a teen, I'd say from about 13 until right around 34. Things have changed, I adore my mother, and we get along quite well... with momentary turbulence here and there. It helps that we live well over 7,000 air miles apart. Skype is great. We heart Skype.

So, you can well imagine what I thought my future would look like. It still may end up being treacherous. However, my relationship with my daughter is wonderful. She is 5 1/2 going on 45, and she is beginning to be a good listener. For now, I'll take it. She is hilariously funny and I mean like pure, natural comedic timing. The child is whip-smart and I am already practicing my "Smart Girls have more fun" speech. She also happens to be lovely to look at, although to be quite truthful... she had to grow into it. She was not the cutest baby girl, but I tend to cut her lots of slack; she was ill even in the womb and had to have a major surgery at 2 months old. We were simply happy to have her, hair or no hair. In short, she is a handful and quite a character. I wouldn't take her any other way.

When she was asked by the agency I freelance for to go out on auditions (I'm a makeup artist) it didn't really come as a big surprise. It came about so organically, since as a single mother I have had to bring the kids to the studio on occasion, Gigi tends to be the life of the party (while my son, would rather hide in a corner) Gigi was born to be an actor. If this is what she chooses to do with her life, it wouldn't surprise me one bit. However, she has stayed strong and steady and swears that when she grows up she will be a veterinarian... and pizza dough thrower (although the side jobs change from time to time)

I took her to her first audition, only nervous that I would somehow fail her. She was fine. She was the belle of the ball. I heard a collective groan as we walked in to the waiting room from the mothers of the other girls... if looks were all they were going for, Gigi had it nailed. She did not get called back, nor did she look back... I still think she has no idea that the goal is anything more than to show up and be cute.

I was surprised when I got a call today, asking her to go on another audition for a different commercial. They said 'they' asked for her, although her picture is not on the website and she has never been in ANYTHING. Immediately, I began to fret. Gigi said "Ok, when? Where?"

Meanwhile, I question myself as a mother, if I ought to allow her to do auditions. And if she gets cast in something, do I even want that for her? There are all the obvious reasons but my biggest concern is screwing up my kid - if this actually GOES somewhere. I do not want the next Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, no matter how successful she may be. No amount of money could justify having my daughter turn into a monster.

After a lot of consideration and plenty of asking for advice, I've decided we'll do it until either she decides she doesn't want to anymore or I determine that it is no longer in her best interest. Everyone seemed to think the same way about it, but the advice I wanted to hear most was from my own mother. You see, I was in the exact same position when I was 3, although I had a pretty heavy-weight family member who could have gotten me the job. I was sent to do commercials, to get practice for the role they wanted to cast me in on a major daytime drama (aka soap opera). I practiced the lines for the Carls Jr. commercial. I was gonna nail it. The casting people called me in, without my mother, I froze and refused to speak. So much for my big chance. I told my mother I didn't like it and wasn't going to do it. We only look back to laugh at how funny the whole thing was. C'est la vie.

Tomorrow we'll go to the audition. Gigi will feel no pressure from me (or anyone else) and I hope she has fun. She enjoyed the attention last time, particularly from me. We got to have fun and be girly, without her pesky older brother. If for that reason alone I'll keep taking her, as long as she wants me to.