By Janny Jackson
What do you want to be when you grow up?
I’m curious who started this trend, and why it is still being done today.
I first became irked by this question at my oldest son’s VPK graduation ceremony where there was time carved out specifically to ask each kid in the class what they want to be when they grow up. My kids have since been asked this question by relatives, and even our homeschool portfolio evaluator.
And yeah, the responses were sometimes cute or random and made us chuckle, but then I really got to thinking.
Number one, why are we putting so much pressure on our kids to know what they want to be when they grow up?
Number two, how can we possibly expect our kids at such a young age to have the vast knowledge of jobs and careers available to make such a decision, as well as the capability to decide that that is where they will land once they are grown.
I know, you’re rolling your eyes right now. “Janny, it’s not that serious. It’s supposed to be a fun question, we don’t actually expect our kids to follow through with what they say when in kindergarten.”
I agree. I do think the question and trend was created to be fun and lighthearted, and parents are often proud of their kids when they say they want to do what mom or dad does.
But think about the flip side. There are parents out there that put a lot of pressure on their kids from a young age to grow up knowing what career field they want to go into once they are college bound. These kids often feel like they don’t have a choice in their own future or have the choice to change their future career path once parents are convinced that a specific career path is fit for their child, and he/she is expected to follow through with it in college and beyond.
My point in this is that not only is the question pointless at such a young age, heck most high schoolers have no idea what career they want to get into after high school, but it also can lead to an immense amount of pressure and lack of freedom to learn and grow and develop into their own person the way a child should be allowed to.
This is the beauty of homeschool! You saw that coming, didn’t you?
We have the opportunity as homeschool parents to expose our children to many different topics and fields of work in their at-home education (including the non-traditional options), and they will express to us once they are at an appropriate age and maturity level, and a subject piques their interest, what they want to continue to learn about and possibly pursue a career in when older.
Why rush our kids to grow up? Let’s let them be little. Let’s let them enjoy learning through play and being ignorant to adult matters. They have the rest of their lives to deal with lifelong decisions and the direction of their lives. Our job as parents, homeschool or not, is to expose them to information and foster their love for learning so they can develop into their own people and eventually become independent adults who can think critically and create their own paths.
What is your opinion about this? Let me know below.
And as always, thanks for being here!