To wonder if there are any careers you discourage your kids from doing?

[malificent7]

Dd told my dad and i that she wanted to work in Harrods when she grows up... she is 8!

My dad told her she shouldnt work in a shop. She also wants to be a model, pop star, vet... the usual.
My parents basically wanted us to be doctors and duscouraged anytjing else.
I rebelled and did teaching am now a TA.

Aibu to ask how much you want to influence your kids career decisions.

Also aibu to think there is nowt wrong with working in Harrods!

Teaching
Armed forces
Police (probably)

I would discourage my children from going into teaching.
A big difference between discourage and not allowing. Obviously I have no jurisdiction in what they do but I will give my opinion.
that opinion will remain until there is a massive overhaul in the education system.
Obviously it is just my opinion.

Two things in life are certain. Death and tax. My first boyfriend was the son of the local funeral director. He has expanded the business massively. He is one of the better off people we know of. Has used DH for tax advice.

I think personally, that at 7, children should be allowed to try out ideas for what they'd like to be without adults telling them that some ideas are bad. Very few people will fix on one thing at that age and stick to it (I doubt .Any 7 year olds want to be accountants, or telesales operatives); it's like dressing up - exploring identity.

I'm surprised that most people seem to say they would actively discourage a child from this.

This!

DS1 is 11 and has wanted to be in the Forces since he was tiny. I've never discouraged him, nor would I. It's partially a family thing; lots of the men in our family are RAF or Army and he's spent a lot of time around that sort of life. It's incredibly hard to hold down families whilst also serving, and a close family friend became very unwell after several tours with PTSD. The long-term effects for him have changed his entire life. But if DS1 is determined, he'll do it and all DH and I can do is support his choices.

DS2 constantly says he wants to be the King of England, so obviously we'll be encouraging that one.

I tend to think as a parent it's quite selfish to deliberately push your DCs away from the paths they'd like to travel. Obviously there are exceptions and times you'll have to pull rank but when it comes to careers it's far more important to make themselves happy than to make their parents happy.

Ex-teacher here and I wouldn't actively discourage them but I would be honest with them about why I left.

Armed services. That's probably it.

At the moment my older two (6 and 7) want to own a holiday park. They spend all their time designing it.

I am a teacher and I would discourage anyone from becoming one.

I feel sad for.my kids in the school system. So many good teachers leaving and it's not aprofession you'd want to go into now.

Both my husband and I are ex military and we do not want our children to join up. We've done enough years of service for the whole family.

Teaching is probably the other one to be honest.

Professional footballer
I think a lot of young boys go through the stage of wanting to be one but as my DH is actually one it's taking my DS a bit longer to grow out of it!
Yes they can earn great money (not all of them) but there are many many downsides that aren't always taken into consideration

With artificial intelligence coming whether we want it or not, I wouldn't want a job where you can be replaced by a computer. Not just blue collar work, accountancy and the legal profession are out too. I really believe lots of office type jobs are going to go.

This is a big concern. Huge changes are coming afoot and unemployment will become a major concern.

While a lot of the advice parents give their kids is well meaning (and may well have been very useful if their children were to go work in the UK in 2000-2016), it will have little relevance to the world of work in 2025-2050.

Cos of all the people who have said get into stem - I'm going to say scientist...specifically a post doctoral research scientist in academia. Unless you are incredibly successful (and lucky) it is a 9 yr career (after 7yrs university/post grad). Most positions are 3yr contracts, after 3 contracts you become too expensive to keep on - lots of post grad students, readily available cheap labour. Unless you become a group leader and success is measured by publication rate which doesn't encourage thorough research and is down to luck too. It is a job that doesn't appreciate experience. I know lots who have retrained to become teachers (mainly primary). Or women who are unemployed and more or less unemployable as a researcher after a career break for children - the hours aren't family friendly, it is very competitive. And they can't get eg technician roles as they are overqualified.
And a chef - long hours, rubbish money and hard physical work - not something you want to be doing at 65 (unless you become head chef of a big kitchen).

Some said above avoid law due to what she had read on the MN boards. That's a shame. I am glad my daughters followed me into it and all 3 of us like what we do and it's well paid which is the holy grail - the high pay and interesting work you like to do.

I don't think most children find it at all easy to pick careers however. My daughters only picked law in their last year at university studying a different degree. My teenagers don't know what they will do after university either. I just hope we can show all our children wht options are out there so they can make informed choices which enable them to do those things they want to in life and also that they are able to adapt and change and have the personal skills to change jobs, change direction and do all the 101 things life throws at you.

Some said above avoid law due to what she had read on the MN boards. That's a shame. I am glad my daughters followed me into it and all 3 of us like what we do and it's well paid which is the holy grail - the high pay and interesting work you like to do.

IMO, Law is a useless degree if you don't have the connections necessary to get a good job. It's one of the most saturated markets where I live. Thousands of graduates unable to get their foot in the door because the jobs simply aren't there. It's a non-issue for the ones with connections, but for the ones without, they generally end up either unemployed full stop, or employed in a different field entirely.

(And I say all of that having a Law degree myself).

Oooh OP working in harrods was a dream of mine.. I've always liked the idea of working in luxury sales-- however I have never had a sales job so I dont know if the idea is similar to reality.

I would like to say I would discourage my dd from public sector job because there is no incentive anymore and so much expectations.

Motorbike racer.

I don't mind but would try and steer them away from armed services and anything else particularly dangerous. While it would be nice for them to have less money worries than us, I would never tell them to aim only for a better paid job as I have a friend who went into law simply because she was super clever and it was the sort of thing her mum wanted her to do. After a couple of years hated it and now does a much less well paid job but is much happier.

DH is ex-Army and we'd both hate ours to be in the forces. Anything which involved motorbikes/racing cars would be up there too. Basically nothing dangerous.

As for Harrods, my ex best friend used to work there and it was awful. Standard retail wages, horrible uniform, made to wear lots of make up, from what i remember had to do random drug tests and stool samples when she started (not sure if that's changed now) and every time i met her from work dickheads would ask her to buy them a drink/give them money as she must be rich

We've always told our kids (now 16,14 & 12) that as long as they are happy and can support themselves that is good enough for us.

Now their personalities have developed I realise that ds16 needs to have a job that makes him happy to feel comfortable and confident as he is prone to panic!

My ds14 wants to earn plenty of money so we have talked about looking at his favourite subjects (maths science and IT) - and finding an interesting profession for him. He needs to be challenged and stimulated in his work. He also plays hockey at national level, but doesn't want to follow that dream.

My dd12 is currently British no 1 at swimming and is an amazing talent. When she was younger she dreamed of being a professional swimmer (a very young sport), she now won't discuss it as I think she feels it may not be realistic.
It may be perfectly achievable and we will encourage her all we can. However, we always talk about a back up plan.

None are expected to go uni but will be encouraged in whatever they want to achieve

"I tend to think as a parent it's quite selfish to deliberately push your DCs away from the paths they'd like to travel"
Whoooami - I entirely agree with this. I hope that I will support my children in whatever career they want to do.

Happy and support themselves is the key isn't it ? School tell them
They can be whatever they want to be which is great but if my eldest goes down her chosen path I don't see how she'll be able to pay her rent. The school have then failed in my opinion, she could be a doctor but is being told to follow potentially unrealistic Dreams ... It's frustrating

Id avoid Law and teaching. Id advise to think carefully re uni now due to the student debt you. End up with. Id also advise they do something they enjoy and have a passion for.

Anything involving dance,drama or theatre. Been there and seen the harsh reality. Esp if you're female. Er nursing ,if you want to care for patients, and anything that involves fame as others have said is glamour modelling,modelling in general I think etc etc

Wow I am about to go into teaching, would be grateful to those saying they would discourage to expand please?

I wouldn't really want to discourage mine from anything. I would hope that if they wanted to be teachers they would go into something else first after school and uni and then go back to it. Just for a break from the education system.