Nicole Gold knew her daughter Penny was destined for fame when she was just a toddler - slipping into her mum’s high heels and tottering around.
“From the time she could toddle she was in my shoes,” Nicole, 35, told The Mirror. “She was picking up my microphones too.”
Nicole, who records her own music and performs at festivals, had grand plans for her daughter from birth - getting Penny a baby acting agent at the age of three months old.
“She did a Fairy commercial and a couple of campaigns and photoshoots when she was really young,” Nicole, from Colchester, Essex, explained.
Surrounded by the commotion of a TV crew and set, Penny barely batted an eyelid - signalling she was meant to be in front of a camera.
Reflecting on her own childhood, musical Nicole, from Colchester, Essex, regrets that she didn’t go to stage school at a young age - waiting until she was older to put herself through a performing arts course.
“I’d have loved it if my parents had pushed me into stage school. It would have been a lot easier to get into it,” she said.
So when the mum-of-one fell pregnant, she decided she was going to push her daughter into singing, acting and dancing to take up the opportunities she felt she missed out on as a kid.
Penny, now six, takes on around 14 hours of activities every week that will prepare her for a career in showbiz - meaning dedicated mum Nicole spends her week ferrying her daughter to and from classes.
“It’s a juggling act,” Nicole said. “But I’m training her for what she wants to do.”
Penny’s jam-packed week begins with gymnastics on Monday, followed by Latin Ballroom lessons on Tuesday, circus school on Wednesday, and performing arts and musical theatre school on Saturday.
She wakes up at around 7.30am every day and Nicole aims to have her in bed by 7.30pm so she can get plenty of rest for the busy day ahead.
To fund the array of extra-curricular activities Penny takes part in, Nicole runs her own beauty business - dropping Penny off at her grandma’s house on Fridays so she can see clients.
In keeping with her glamorous education, Nicole homeschools Penny, giving her singing lessons using YouTube videos and practising reading by rehearsing scripts.
“I try to make it fun. To be honest, kids learn more when everything’s fun so I try to make it more into a bit of a game,” Nicole explained.
She added she’d always considered homeschooling Penny but decided to send her to school shortly before the pandemic began.
Then, when schools closed and all parents were forced to homeschool their kids, Nicole thought it would be best to carry on home education after classrooms welcomed pupils back.
Are you a 'pushy parent'? We would love to hear from you. Email jessica.taylor@reachplc.com.
“She loves it - she’s got more friends than when she went to normal school. Where we live there’s a massive homeschooling community,” Nicole said.
As she teaches Penny more about life and fame, Nicole is starting to see her daughter’s natural talents as she excels.
“I’d like her to go into music but I can see her acting more when she grows up. She has a right little flair for different characters.”
Nicole acknowledges she’s a “pushy” mum but believes her approach to parenting will encourage Penny to follow her dream and give it her all.
“First and foremost I want her to be happy and the best she can be. If her best means she doesn’t make it, then that’s ok - as long as she’s done everything to the best of her ability,” she explained.
“If Penny decides one day that she wants to go and be a vet, that’s ok too, as long as she gives it 100%.”
However, she reckons her daughter’s love of performing arts will continue to flourish and propel her to fame as she grows up.
Nicole said: “Someone asked her yesterday, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’? Penny replied, ‘a rockstar’!”
