Keeping two feet firmly planted on the ground is hard for anybody who finds success. There are so many opportunities to float off into the sky with a big head and an inflated ego. Hot air always rises, and those who are full of it need to be anchored by their friends and families. Add to that the complications of this success coming during childhood, and you're strapping a rocket to some poor kid's sense of self-worth. Suddenly, they're the breadwinners of the family, and they're recognized everywhere they go. 

Luckily, there are plenty of exceptions that buck the trend because they had the right people around them. A great example here is Tony Dow, child star of Leave It to Beaver. As Wally, Dow was America's big brother, the kind of older influence we all could've used at home. While Wally wasn't perfect, Dow revealed that the team behind Leave It to Beaver made sure he at least didn't grow too big for his britches in real life. In a 2019 Fox News interview, the former actor spoke about his relationships with the cast and crew and his efforts to ensure he was rooted in a normal life.

"They actually asked our parents not to let us watch the show on TV so we wouldn’t get a big head. So there are probably some episodes that I haven’t seen yet… And there was no swearing on set at all, not even from the crew. They wanted to keep it as family-friendly as possible at all times."

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Because this was a show with kids on it, special accommodations were taken to ensure it was different from most other Hollywood sets. In addition to the "no swearing" rule, the Leave It to Beaver crew resolved conflicts in a way that wouldn't ever upset Dow or his co-star, Jerry Mathers. 

"It was great. You always hear stories about all these arguments on set. We never had any of that. They wanted us to be as much of a family as possible, for Jerry and I to very much be like regular kids."