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!

Just about shop work, DP works in a shop and with his commission structure he routinely comes out earring £5-600 more a month than I do as a band 5 staff nurse. Not all shop jobs are low paid.

I've warned mine off anything public sector (as if there will be one left to speak of by the time they grow up.) I was not at all a happy bunny when dd was in her "I want to join the RAF" phase which happily passed. I don't want my kids going anywhere near war zones if I can help it, but I kept quiet because I appreciated the ambition. Life is expensive and they have seen their dad and I work hard and still struggle. They know money matters more than it should and sadly I think that will influence what they chose to do more than anything else.

Teaching. I've done it for 16 years. Was head of department but took 16k pay cut and now hold small responsibilities in a better school. It affected my mental and physical health. I can't encourage my children to do that.

If they are very little children they have all kinds of sweet ideas. Occasionally a child decides very early on. 3 of my children won music scholarships so we know a good few teenagers for whom that is their entire life, specialist often residential music school etc but (luckily) mine are not quite so keen on that (their father and great grandfather are/were musicians and would always say is is not a good choice and is badly paid and very anti social hours).

My advice to my children is what my father said - pick work you enjoy and is intellectual satisfying so you are not bored and ideally well paid and also where you could ultimately work for yourself. My siblings and I all picked professions (so read career specific degrees), earn a fair bit and all to a greater or lesser extent work for ourselves which gives you freedom and control over your life although you tend to have to start out working for someone else for at least 10 years to build up skills and contacts. If you pick something it is hard to get into because most people can't manage it whether that be acrobat or surgeon top footballer the pay tends to be better which is never a bad thing.

I encourage everyone into business law. It is as interesting as when I went into it a good few years ago but also don't hesitate to mention my postman son as well as his lawyer sisters as he's happy too. You get a lot of public appreciation as a postman (or postperson is it? - he has some female colleagues of course)... some older people like to chat, he gets to help people (and he's very good at that), just the odd nasty dog and in order to be happy most of us need to move ideally walk and carry heavy things and be outside part of my recipe for happiness and you get that if you carry post all day..... Mind you the drones are coming.... so not sure it's the best long term career plan. Being adapatable and able to change career or change within a career matters too so giving children the skills to cope with change and things going wrong is important. Things go awfully wrong for most of us at times but it's how we handle that that is as important as whether they went wrong in the first place. Endurance, stoicism, adaptability.....all useful skills.

Armed services, prison service, teaching and police I would be less than thrilled about. I would prefer a skilled trade or science based choice.

Social work - we are all burnt out, depressed, stressed and under paid.

At the moment my 8 year old wants to be either a Scientist or a Taxi Driver

I would probably (gently) discourage anything in the Armed Forces if it was mentioned later on. My main hope though is that the dc are happy - and if that means being a shop worker or a surgeon, so be it.

Arm forces
Fireman
Probably police

Because I'd worry about their safety

In reality they are free to choose. Though executioner was mentioned in the thread - I'd discouraged that too

Military
Intelligence
Nuclear research

Dd wants to be a dancer. I told her she will probably spend a lot of time working in Harrods. They are paid a decent daily rate through an agency & given time off for auditions.

The only career I would discourage is the armed forces.

DD wants to be a scientist and I'm happy to encourage that.

DS wants to be rich and I'm happy to encourage that!

My parents were very discouraging of most jobs when I was growing up eg choreographer, actor, journalist, charity policy work etc so I don't want to be too closed to DCs.

But still no to:
Armed forces
Most banking
Sales
Debt collection
Bae
Big pharma
Drugs/sex

The school desperately tried to persuade my son to consider medicine - specifically army surgeon - not taking into account his horror of blood and disease and total lack of vocation

When he said he thought he might go into teaching I jumped on him shook him n told him I hadn't given up 15 years of my life for him to turn round and become a teacher so thankfully he's given up that idea too (yes I've been a teacher since I became a lp)

But I am encouraging an old friend of his into teaching, specifically to consider management as I think he'd be a good senior leader being charismatic conscientious and very tough

It's that they find the right jobs to find fulfilment and happiness in I guess whatever that is even teaching, the military or vlogging

It's frustrating that schools career services around here are v limited to professions, trades or arts

I have relatives in bomb disposal, modeling and the prison service. Theres a lot of industries and 'careers' I wouldn't want my kids involved with.
I'd support them if they went into the Forces but I'd worry.
I wouldn't want them to work in the sex industry in any way at all.

I could accept my ds taking on a dangerous job like firefighting or fishing. I'd struggle more with a job that was both dangerous and had moral implications. If you join the Armed Forces you have no choice over what conflicts you fight in or who you shoot at. You can always walk out of a civilian job if you find yourself in a situation you don't agree with: in the Army that would be desertion. That would seriously trouble me.

I probably would worry less about than most MNers about them taking on something that isn't brilliantly paid: they have not been brought up with very expensive tastes and we tend to be generally good at making money go a long way in my family.

I wouldn't want them to be teachers, armed forces or solicitors.

Armed forces for usual reasons, teachers because of the way they're drastically undervalued and solicitors because of the way many of them (not all but the majority I've experienced myself) are unscrupulous in their dealings with people. One solicitor told me that his motto was 'misery makes money'

Discourage from teaching (I'm a teacher) I love my job but worry about the future of it.
Would hate the thought of army etc.
Would discourage a barrister (due to the enormous fees and low likelyhood of securing a job)
But it wouldn't be my life to have the final say! And I think our children are even more likely to have more than 1 career (as opposite to jobs) in their lifetime

Jesus YoYo, just why did you have a child?

So many people saying teaching. That makes me sad. I am a teacher in a large school for children with extremely challenging behaviour (think physical aggression etc) and although it's exceptionally difficult at times and I get hurt quite a lot; I love my job; think the young people I work with are brilliant, intelligent and brave. I celebrate their achievements no matter how small, and it's a privilege to be a part of teaching them to become adults.

Well if they are happy in their chosen career that is all I want but I can't deny I'd be gutted if they joined the Armed Forces

knitpicker

Some jobs do have medical exemptions, you can't be an air traffic controller if you have IBS.

If I had a child with ASD I'd certainly get them to explore computing, particularly programming/coding.

I'm not for one minute suggesting they can't do other things but when you get tot he bottom of computer science it is almost literally true of false with no inbetweens.

My mam wanted me to become a mobile hairdresser/beautician as it would've been handy for her and her friends.

I had other plans, I got myself a Computer Science degree in the early 90s and went on to run my own business. I am successful in my field. Wasn't handy on the hair front. I was a geeky kid so probably not best one for that line of work. I really wanted to be an equine vet. I was not academically encouraged at home though. Coming home with A grades was met with a 'oh that's nice, we're having chips for tea'.

My children will be what/who they want to be.

I'd not like them to be in a front line role in the armed forces or emergency services as I'd worry about them (because they are my kids, but if they chose it I'd be proud of their decision). I'd not want them to teach either, it seems like a lot of effort and very stressful.

No career is out of bounds. Just chose your path and give it your all. I have friends who have pushed their children into accountancy, that's got to be a really miserable job if your heart isn't in it.

I actually did get part of my equine vet dream, I became a successful event rider so I 'worked' with animals in a enjoyable way. I'm glad I didn't become a vet now, I'm friends with a few and people seem to think they are really well off, most I know are not as they don't own their own massive practices and are on call 24/7. It's a tough job.

At 8 there's almost no way what she says will turn out to be true! I had no idea even when I was 16. As long as it's not a drug dealer or similar I think it's nothing to worry about

I'd not mind the hairdresser. No student loans and flexible working. Skill I'm demand and they have a high happiness rating on the surveys!

No armed forces
Nothing illegal
No legal sex trade
No involvement in politics if tory/ukip

I wouldn't actually say any of that to them, but I'd encourage them elsewhere, anywhere else.

Don't have DC but I'd encourage them to think long and hard before joining the entertainment industry then again is last day of work today and am at end of tether, bluuuuugh