Getting my 12 year old son to think of what job/career he want to do when he is older

Georgiegirl256

DigForVictory wrote: »

How can we *help* his loving & anxious parent? Who may well feel that teaching is just fine but has a family of neuroscientists, multilinguists & assorted overachievers. Or a Mother-in-Law-From-Hell. Or just really bad flashbacks to "so what do you want to be" interrogations.

Are you for real?! Sometimes I can't tell if you're being real or being sarcastic?

trolleyrun

When I was 12 I announced to my parents what I wanted to do "when I grow up". I was told in no uncertain terms that I was being stupid and I should get an education and a proper job. I was told to not mention it again. I did well at school and college and then went to uni. My choice of uni course wasn't good enough, neither was my choices of college studies. I realised eventually that pretty much nothing would be good enough so I went for my dream job and got it. 14 years later, I'm still loving it. I just wish I hadn't listened to the parents, who btw are/were factory workers without any higher education.

Please please encourage your son to follow his dreams. If you try to get him to do something else, he'll just resent you later in life. Being a PE teacher sounds interesting, and he can go into personal training etc if he so wishes. Then again, he could change his mind in 6 months' time and want to be a philosopher. What if he wanted to be a nurse? Nanny? Politician? Rocket scientist? And don't forget: he's only 12. Give him a break.

marisco_2

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

At least the lad has some ambitions....you on the other hand, your attitude stinks.

I completely disagree with the above statement. The OP simply wishes to encourage his son to keep an open mind and consider all manner of career paths. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that approach considering he is just 12 years of age. That he currently has ambition to work hard, and aim toward being able to hold a role in such a worthwhile profession, speaks volumes to me about how well he is being raised. The OP should be congratulated on being such a good parent and positive influence on his child. Not admonished and told that his attitude stinks.

OP does your sons school have a career advisor that he could obtain information from? Or is there a teacher at his school who he gets along well with that he could talk to? Many teachers have been in other professions before doing their training, and may be a valuable source of insight for him also.

pukkamum

My son is 12 and wants to be a history teacher and I couldn't be happier.
I told him this means putting lots of hard work now, especially in his maths which he struggles slightly with but all other subjects too.
Well that was a few months ago and at parents evening last night every teacher said that his enthusiasm and quality of work has lifted considerably in the last couple of months partucularly in maths!
A goal through school is such a good tool to keep them on track and to want to teach young minds is a worthwhile and excellant aspiration.

Georgiegirl256

marisco wrote: »

I completely disagree with the above statement. The OP simply wishes to encourage her son to keep an open mind and consider all manner of career paths. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that approach considering her son is just 12 years of age. That he currently has ambition to work hard, and aim toward being able to hold a role in such a worthwhile profession, speaks volumes to me about how well he is being raised. The OP should be congratulated on being such a good parent and positive influence on her child. Not admonished and told that her attitude stinks.

I don't know if you've read the other posts, but I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

I never said that the OP is not a good parent. I'm sure that they are.

I'll have to respectfully disagree with your second sentence. To me, it doesn't sound like the son is being encouraged, but rather discouraged from being a teacher, like being a teacher is a bad career choice. Like someone else has said, would the OP be saying the same thing if the son was saying he wanted to be a doctor?

ETA: I agree, maybe in hindsight, saying the OP's attitude stank, maybe was abit harsh, but I do think he should be abit more encouraging, there's nothing wrong with being a teacher as a career path, and in time, the son might probably chop and change his mind and maybe explore other avenues.

FBaby

At 12 a child will only have been exposed to very few jobs usually that if their parents or teachers hence so many aspiring young teacher. A 12yo is very unlikely to say they would like to become a Cognitive Psychologist or a Civil Engineer. Those are discipline that might lead to their dream job they just don't know it yet!

DigForVictory

Georgiegirl256 wrote: »

Are you for real?! Sometimes I can't tell if you're being real or being sarcastic?

I'm for real. I think geek deserves our support, as while we can't know why they're posting, odds on it's because they've copped flak & want to check where they are in the general sights as it were.

Geek - please do not answer this as it isn't our business!
You might be a sole parent with absolutely sock all support from family & friends.

You might be on the wrong end of court moves to take littlegeek away from you by evil-ex.

You might have "support" from folks who have ridiculous expectations based on their own unusually high scoring lives.

You might be *any* parent who loves & wants the best for their child & who genuinely doesn't know what the devil to expect from a 12 year old boy - and I'd have thought most of us parents here would be as sympathetic to *that* as to littleGeek's ambitions to be a teacher.


So, despite three pages of assorted vigorously worded verbiage, please rest assured that wanting to be a teacher is not harmful. It may not be a burning desire to crack desalination, but that may come later. It isn't a burning desire to damage things (again, that may come later.) It's a small boy, uncertain as to how The Real World works, reckoning that so far, being a teacher seems like a plan.
Any vocation will manifest given time. It will even survive puberty. So love littleGeek, defend his current wish to teach & don't let inconveniences, night terrors, foes nor loving friends get at you!

pambler

My son at 12 wanted to be a painter and decorator, but also be trained in plumbing and electrics! In-laws were horrified that he wanted to do 'manual' work! As I pointed out to them, anyone with all those skills could earn a lot of money and probably never be out of a job. I've encouraged him to practise whenever he can, with the result that I now have a 19 year old who is a very competent and usually enthusiastic DIYer! However he has changed his mind on his chosen career and is going to uni in September to do Economics.

OP - as others have said, encourage your son - I think it's great that he has a) an ambition, and b) an achievable/sensible one. You have the opportunity to get him to learn about and participate in sports - the chances are he will change his mind, but in the mean time is likely to stay fit and healthy.

WelshKitty

I would say like many others it's too early to put a definite career track set as in life things change , what I would maybe suggest is to open social groups in his life by this maybe get him to join clubs like sports he is into or stuff like duke of Edinburgh etc
This won't be a career but it will expand his skills that he will learn and also when it does get to uni stage it would be great for the form .

krazyburd23

I think it’s too young for him to know but if he carries on wanting to be a PE teacher then you should not stand in his way and should instead encourage/support him to achieve it. I remember in the last year(s) of school, the horrible sessions we had to have with the careers advisors, desperately pressuring us to tell them what we wanted to do so they could fill in there forms. I actually lied to get them off my back in the end, I had no clues what I wanted to do and I must have been about 15/16 at the time!!!

I think you should leave him be, he may/may not change his mind in the coming years but whatever happens it’s his choice and you should support him regardless. There is a heck of a lot of people out there who ‘work to live’ and haven’t had the opportunities to do the things that they would really enjoy. If your son gets the chance to do something that makes him happy then he should grab it with both hands and not let go.