Many parents plan their children’s future from a young age. Whilst that may appear cautious, it is also important that through this you don’t restrict your children.
Often parents don’t even notice that they are forcing their own dreams and fantasies onto their children, who in fact, might want to do something completely different.
It’s understandable that when your child informs you about wanting to become a firefighter or a clay-sculpture artist you get worried.
As parents, you want the best for your children and sometimes the jobs that they come up with are incredibly dangerous or something very abstract. It’s important that you respect your child’s dreams, however, you should also keep in mind that as children they don’t get as much insight into life as you do and that their goals are constantly shaping over time.
Nevertheless, one should keep in mind that money and finances are not necessarily the most significant things in the world. It’s natural that a parent wants their child to be financially secure and independent, but that doesn’t mean they have to become millionaires and obtain a surplus amount of cash to be happy.
In fact, it would be ideal if there would be a balance and they could pursue something that they both enjoy and would provide them with financial stability.
You yourself can probably admit that your parents either attempted to influence your career decision-making or that they liked voicing their dislike towards your choices. This is mainly because they are worried that a decision made at a young age, may transform over time and won’t be as desired as at the start.
Whilst it may be difficult to trust a child’s or teenager’s decision-making skills, it’s important that you give them the freedom of choice. However, that doesn’t mean that you cannot provide guidance for them along the way.
By raising them in a way that emphasizes the importance of education and profession, you will add to their awareness and insight into adult life.
Often teenagers can be careless and skip class thinking that it’s something cool to do. While it may be part of youth and acceptable once or twice, parents should strive for educating their children on their options in the future and how that relates to academia.
By raising your child as “academic-centric” you simultaneously allow them freedom without restrictions and provide aid and understanding on how they could keep their options open.
If you expose them to a variety of topics and activities you could gauge their different interests and through that help them improve their skills that are essential for those.
If they are interested in languages then you could ask them whether they would like to attend extra group language classes. That wouldn’t only improve their linguistics, but could also improve their social skills.
Similarly to languages, if they appear particularly fascinated by a certain sport then perhaps that’s a sign for them to take it to a higher level. This could be achieved both through individual practice with a coach or by joining the school football team or after school training.
However, whilst they may be very interested in a certain activity, sometimes they are lacking in skills for it. This is not a problem, but it may be accompanied by tears and a few participation awards. If they are truly in love with that sport or activity then their dedication should help them improve through practice.
If your child is captivated by art then give them a chance to pursue that in their free time. This could be done by buying them artistic supplies: crayons, coloring pencils, paints, and an aisle.
By allowing your child to fully immerse themselves in a certain hobby they will eventually figure out whether they enjoy it in the long term or would prefer trying out something new in order to find the perfect job.
Despite creativity playing a large role in one’s growing up and development, academics should not be neglected either.
Just as with sports and language, some enjoy studying science and the world around them or the pattern of numbers in math. The pursuit of these subjects can be further inspired by attending scientific talks for children, learning about jobs around animals, or by signing up for afterschool activities and clubs related to those topics.
By experiencing science and a range of experiments, your child might develop a greater interest in it and could want to do something related to that in the future.
However, by your child developing an academic-centric attitude, they also expand on their social skills, including empathy and sympathy.
Overall, it’s important to maintain a balance and not to pressure your own views and passions onto someone who has another preference. Instead, you should educate them on their options and how they can achieve their goals and help others along the process.
