The challenge of raising a rock star
By Jay MacDonald • Bankrate.com

So your kid wants to be a rock 'n' roll star? Great for him -- but what's it going to cost you?

Poll America's preteen population and a hefty number of them will say they want to be a rock star when they grow up. Insert here Mom's old punch line: "You're going to have to choose one" (either grow up or be a rock star).

For good or ill, MTV, "American Idol," "Rock Star: INXS" and the advertising world have convinced even tone-deaf toddlers that becoming the next Britney Spears or Clay Aiken is not only possible, it's almost inevitable.

Behind every Hilary Duff, Jason Mraz and Avril Lavigne, you'll find relieved parents who've invested plenty to turn their adolescents into "fabulescents." Naturally, as a loving parent, you want to do everything within your power to help your child achieve his dream.

But as a responsible parent, it is also your duty to shine a little ray of reality into his imaginary music video. The fact is, the odds are astronomically against you having the next Elvis Presley living upstairs. Then again, Mr. and Mrs. Springsteen probably thought the same thing.

Can you afford to raise a rock star? What's the likely price tag of fame? And how will you know when it's time to staunch the flow of dough and pack your mascaraed headbanger off to law school instead?

Read on: Your mansion in the Hollywood Hills may depend on it.

Like father, like son
To explore this increasingly common parental dilemma, I called my brother Kent in Seattle, a hotbed of teen ambition if ever there was one. Kent spent the bulk of his 20s as a professional singer-songwriter, performing in clubs from coast to coast before settling down and raising a family.

Now his 19-year-old son Harry, drummer for an up-and-coming emo band called Daylight Breaks, is following in his footsteps. After years of drum lessons, home recording and banging out Green Day and Blink 182 covers at local talent shows, Daylight Breaks is looking forward to performing its own material soon as an opening band at Graceland, the Seattle club that recently launched Death Cab for Cutie.

"I guess the leaf doesn't fall far from the tree," Kent says. "He definitely has the knack for it. He's drumming all the time. At the dinner table, the table is rocking. I have to tell him all the time, 'Harry, stop drumming.'"

Kent has briefed Harry on the realities of the music business: "Oh yeah, he's heard lots of stories about the life of a traveling musician. He's aware of the downsides."

Cue the cold shower: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook, competition will remain keen and job growth will be slower than average, 3 percent to 9 percent, for self-employed musicians through 2012. Even if you land a steady gig, the median annual earnings of salaried musicians and singers remains in the mid-$30,000 range. Statistically, of the roughly 215,000 professional musicians out there, four in 10 will work day jobs to support themselves.