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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what career would you like your kids to do?

139 replies

Pointlessfact · 24/02/2018 20:40

Can be anything

Being a football fan , obviously a footballer would be high up there

And then maybe a doctor or a lawyer

OP posts:
ineedamoreadultieradult · 25/02/2018 09:23

Anything that gives them a healthy life/work balance.

RedHelenB · 25/02/2018 09:24

Lovelyjubilly- i have disuaded my dd16 from being a teacher for the moment. The annoying thing is she'd be great at the job but I think would find the changing goal posts too disheartening and end up stressed. Ds in y6 and it feels like Gradgrinds to him! I despair of the way education is going.

Dipitydoda · 25/02/2018 09:25

Whatever makes him happy. I’d rather he didn’t work in an office, high pressure environment, half the people I work with are backstabbing twats

Mumsymcmumface · 25/02/2018 09:29

Fixing and building the robots or AI that will be making everyone else jobless.

There is going to be a serious shortage of work in the not too distant future. Even just autonomous vehicles will completely Shante our world.

People no longer owning cars, no delivery drivers, no garages, no petrol stations, no taxi drivers, no busses, and all the associated business and jobs and supply chain.

No train drivers, no pilots, no crane drivers.

Less accidents means reduced need for certain medical staff, in the insurance industry etc etc.

JsOtherHalf · 25/02/2018 09:31

Ds wants to work 3 days a week, and.have enough money to live on comfortably.

He isn't really into coding etc.
I've suggested dentistry.

fussygalore118 · 25/02/2018 09:31

The usual caveats of as long as they are happy blah blah.. but i hope they pick a path that enables them to travel, afford a decent lifestyle ( buy a house etc). Child 1 is 12 now and we talk about different careers and salaries as well as how much it costs to buy and run a home etc. It's important to me that our kids are realistic about choices they make in life and that if they chose to go down a path that is poorly paid they will struggle to afford the nice things.

Mrsknackered · 25/02/2018 09:31

Anything that they love, and hopefully they make enough that they can live their life in a comfortable manner.

I've always liked the thought of one of them being into athletics.

Yvest · 25/02/2018 09:32

I’d like mine to do what makes them happy but if also like them to have the potential to earn decent money. I’d discourage nursing and teaching but a trade would be fine. Realistically, I think eldest will go into finance or accountancy in the City. He’s smart and astute and wants to make a lot of money , middle might go into TV and we’ve good connections there so can help her get a foot in the door and youngest currently thinks he’s going to the 2028 olympics but I’m gently reminding him that might not happen.

Mrsknackered · 25/02/2018 09:33

@Yvest just out of interest, why do you discourage nursing?

Stompythedinosaur · 25/02/2018 09:34

Obviously they can decide what they want. But I really hope they don't join the armed forces. Other than that I'm ok with anything.

megletthesecond · 25/02/2018 09:36

DS - something in environmental engineering.

DD - she has a maths brain so ideally something in STEM.

holeinmyheart · 25/02/2018 09:37

As a Mother, Grandmother, SIL, DIL, MIL etc with grown up children I think trying to make your children take a path that you have chosen or pressured them into is a no no.
I was speaking to a Pharmacist of Asian origin about his career path. He pointed a rather sad fact to me which was that if the children hadn't got the intellect or inclination to become what their parents wanted it caused such distress all round.
My daughter was telling me about being interviewed for a surgery job and everyone interviewing her was a Asian origin British person. There is no doubt that these children are being pressurised into being Doctors, Dentist, Pharmacists etc. Great if that's what they want but bad if it's not.
So my advice is read to your children, provide a calm home, respect them, facilitate their homework and LISTEN to them. Being clever isn't enough.
They will then hopefully choose a path that will make them content and mentally happy. Isn't that what we all want for them anyway?

MatildaTheCat · 25/02/2018 09:41

DS1 has found his ‘thing’ and it was a job I’d never heard of so would have been unlikely to choose it.

DS2 has an ambition and I’d love to see him make it work but I’m not sure he can and live the way he wants to ( in reasonable comfort in London).

So on a practical level, of course we want our dc to be in a job that makes them happy but they need to earn enough to live well. My dream career for either would have been a ballet dancer as I’m so in awe of their amazing strength and skill. Sadly neither has the slightest prospect of this dream ever becoming a reality. Grin

HopefullyAnonymous · 25/02/2018 09:42

DD wants to be a police officer, same as me. I love my job but hope she grows out of wanting to do the same.

Arapaima · 25/02/2018 09:43

I’m an actuary (although no longer working in a traditional actuarial field), and it’s been a really good choice for me (interesting and well paid) so I’d be very happy to see my DCs make the same choice. They’re all good at maths so it’s possible.

No worries though if they choose something else Smile

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 25/02/2018 09:43

I would like them to be professional. Being poor is no fun and the vast majority of people just accept a 9-5 job rather than have a passion about it so best chose one that has opportunity and higher remuneration

Meandmy4 · 25/02/2018 09:43

Well as long as they are not dealers or burglars ill be happy x

Sprinklesinmyelbow · 25/02/2018 09:44

Actuary- yes yes! Will be encouraging this Grin a good friend is one and did a math degree. Do you then join some kind of training programme in house?

ElfrideSwancourt · 25/02/2018 09:44

DD2 wants to be a film director- as long as she becomes famous enough to get on Strictly so I can sit in the front every week I'll be happy 😃

Arapaima · 25/02/2018 09:45

Yes! Most people work for a company and sit the professional exams on the side.

OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow · 25/02/2018 09:45

We used to joke (key word here) that we'd like a premier league footballer, a Booker prize winning author and an oscar winning actor, but would settle for a builder a plumber and an electrician. Got none of them.

toomuchtooold · 25/02/2018 09:47

I don't mind what they do, but I will try to make them aware of a few things:

  1. Jobs that have a professional qualification or other method of controlling the supply of qualified workers tend to be more secure and better paid, but only if the members of the profession have control over the number of new people coming in, and only if the qualification is really necessary to do the job.
  2. Jobs that involve personal care/contact, like optician or hairdresser or family lawyer tend to be spread out all over the country with at least one in every town, so if mobility is important, these are good. Jobs like high finance and R&D on the other hand tend to require you to be mobile, so you'll have lots of scope to live in cool new places but little control over where you live and possibly problems if you want to settle down.
Yvest · 25/02/2018 09:49

My daughter was telling me about being interviewed for a surgery job and everyone interviewing her was a Asian origin British person. There is no doubt that these children are being pressurised into being Doctors, Dentist, Pharmacists etc

I agree. I worked with a British Asian lady who was pressuring her daughter to study business, her husband wouldn’t let her consider anything else. However her school were encouraging her to study modern languages which was where her passion was and she was being encouraged down the oxbridge route by the school. Her dad really wasn’t happy with that as it wasn’t business or economics. A colleague and I had a long discussion explaining how an oxbridge degree is such an open door to her future. I left the job and a year later I got a text from her telling me that her daughter was off to study a modern language at Oxford. I was so happy for her.

gillybeanz · 25/02/2018 09:52

Whatever makes them happy.
Ds1 in a mortgage broker and ds2 currently works in a call centre, is a born seller.
Even though I know it will mean so much travel for dd and we'd hardly see her, she wants to be an international Opera singer.

greathat · 25/02/2018 09:53

Not teaching - wouldn't want them to have that much stress in their lives. There's a family business on their dads side but in design engineering so they'll have to be good at physics :)