A look to a child’s future career opportunities

N doesn’t really have much idea about jobs and what they are.  Apart from farming obviously.  And vets and tree surgeons as that’s what our lodgers do. 

I’m not sure he realises that the staff at nursery have a job doing that?  Maybe he does, or maybe he just thinks he goes there for a play.  I’m not sure.   He definitely has no idea what I do, even though I tell him that my job helps people use less water and create less waste.  Basically I just work on a computer.

Nursery do have lots of outdoor visitors come to talk to the children about what they do, so maybe he does know more than I realise.  They’ve had vets, doctors, army representatives, police, paramedics, firemen and various other professions come in.  But N definitely has quite a good imagination in his role play and activities that he takes part on an everyday basis.

If you ask him what he’ll do when he’s older, of course it’s a farmer all the way.  He’s not shown a preference to what sort of farming, but he does like the sheep (much to his father’s consternation).

You could also say that he’s shown promise at horse riding.  Start on a donkey, you never knew where he could end up.

Then there’s the medical profession.  As I have to go to the nurse to get my INR checks done, he does quite like going to the doctor’s surgery and he likes to tell people where they are while in the waiting room.  And my old Fisher Price medical kit is very useful when he’s pretending to check his dad’s bad knee or back.  Or picking ‘bugs’ out of his hair.

But then he really enjoys playing with hair.  Yes, you never know but he’s showing quite an ability at using the hairdryer and straighteners (I hope unplugged) that they have at nursery.  He loves putting clips in his own hair too. 

Usefully, he likes cleaning the bathroom.  In the bath, he’ll stand as the water drains out, and wash the side of the shower door.  If I’m in the shower, he’ll clean the edge of the bath.  So maybe a future window cleaner

He certainly loves running around.  I’m not sure he’s ever going to break any sports records, but he is showing good connection on hitting balls with his golf club and kicking a football.  I’m hoping he has a tendency towards racquet sports, as maybe then I’ll have an excuse to play again as he gets older.

A favourite activity is music, whether singing or playing his music – he loves his guitar, rocking to music on the tv or radio, and playing his harmonica.  And his song repertoire has come on some way in the last couple of months.

Then finally, he might end up a chef.  He loves helping in the kitchen, although I think it’s really the serving dinner that he likes the most.  Maybe rather than a chef, he’ll become a professional food taster, restaurant critic or just take over the role of Adam in Man V Food.  That’s a competition that he could certainly do well in for his age at the moment, as we’re always astounded by how much he’ll serve up on his plate, eat and then serve himself up seconds which he’ll usually eat too.

When you ask your children what future career they want, what do they say?  Do they know about your job?