When I was a little girl, I wanted to be an air stewardess. I was a very well-traveled kid, and every time I boarded a plane I envied the slim, pretty ladies in their smart uniforms. They were always so elegant and friendly, and they were unfailingly kind to me and my brother. A career of jet-setting around the world meeting all kinds of people greatly appealed to me.
Of course, now that I am a well-traveled adult, I cannot think of a job I would like less. When I board planes, I want to be given my mini-bottle of wine and left alone. The last thing I want to do is walk up and down a narrow aisle handing out peanuts and smiling at strangers until my face hurts.
Anyway, when James was about three, he started having his first When-I-grow-up-I-want-to-be discussions. I clearly remember the day it started. Our walk to the daycare he attended at the time took us past a little restaurant that happens to be a popular breakfast spot for the local police. As usual, all of the parking spaces in front of the restaurant were occupied by police cruisers. James stopped to count them, and then said, “When I grow up, I want to ride in the back of a police car.”
Well! That wasn’t what I was expecting to hear! No parent wants to know that their three-year-old aspires to a life of crime.
Fortunately, he met a cool policeman a short while later and changed his goal to driving the police car.
Since then, James has changed his career aspirations several times. He has considered being a fireman, a race car driver and a builder. Sometimes his sole ambition is to be a dad – hopefully not too soon. Other times he wants to be a Transformer, but he doesn’t say exactly how he will become a thing that’s sometimes a car, sometimes a scary robot.
It doesn’t bother me unduly that James is so undecided about what he wants to do. I mean, the kid is six. He has time to decide.
This weekend, he suddenly came up with a new career idea. The conversation we had went something like this:
James: Mommy, we’re going to have a party.
Me: Oh?
James: Yeah! We’re going to bake a cake and put out some snacks and juice. But the cake will take longer to do so we have to get started on that right away. So I’ll find the juice and Daddy can go and buy snacks while you and George start looking for ingredients.
Me: Silence. Goldfish-impersonation. Thinking: cripes, this kid is bossy!
After a pause, the conversation continued.
James: Mommy, I know what I want to be when I grow up.
Me: Oh good! What’s that?
James: I’m going to be a caterer, and I’m going to tell everyone what to do.
So, he’ll be a caterer. Other than that, nothing much will change, since he tells everyone what to do now.
At the end of the day, I have the same hope for both of my boys: that they will find careers that will make them feel fulfilled and happy, and that they will not ever feel limited into doing something that they do not really want to do.
What career aspirations have your kids told you about? Did you end up doing anything remotely close to what you thought you would as a kid?
Ours change, from day to day sometimes. They currently range from being a digger driver, to driving a road-sweeper truck, to designing for Lego in Denmark, to being a detective…the continuous one is being a Dad – kinda thrilled about that (just not *too* soon!).
Being a dad is James’ most consistent ambition too. Like you, I hope it is an eventual goal. A *very* eventual goal! Designing Lego – now, that would be cool! My own secret ambition is to be a Mythbuster.
My key ambition is to survive until Mr Butterfly is at school and I am suddenly rich, gorgeous and free to do as I please – I’ll let you know how *that* works out! Mythbusting might be a better alternative. 🙂