...to ask if you'd be happy if your kids chose the same career as you?

[LorelaiVictoriaGilmore]

And if so, what do you do? I've been thinking about this since a conversation between friends who are lawyers, doctors and teachers. My friends all said that they wouldn't want their kids to do the same career they do... all said they felt some combination of over-worked, underpaid, under appreciated, clobbered by office politics, in an environment unfriendly to women or families etc. And that got me thinking about my parents who didn't want me to do similar jobs to them either - both worked in government jobs and thought the private sector was better.

So who does think that their job is good enough for their kids? Anyone?!

R&D Scientist (have also worked in academia and NHS) and procurement manager. I'd be happy for DD to do either. I come from 3 generations of RAF, I never fancied it but wouldn't discourage her from it.
She's only a baby though so who knows what sort of jobs will be available to her?

Would recommend they didn't go into medicine for all the reasons fortybingowings mentioned. The university debt for the course is absolutely not worth it no matter how much I love my job.

However, it is still a good qualification to have and there are lots of things that someone can do with a medical degree which doesn't necessarily involve practising as a doctor so I wouldn't discourage if they were adamant that was what they wanted.

I'm a software engineer. I'd support my kids if they wanted to go into it. Reasonable pay and sensible working hours.

It makes me really sad that so many doctors wouldn't recommend it as a career to their kids. It seems to mostly be GPs posting... I wonder if hospital consultants who can take on private work etc feel different?

I know a hospital consultant. Get the distinct impression he hates it and wouldn't become a doctor at all if he had his time again. I doubt he'd be happy for his dcs to go into medicine.

No because I don’t earn enough for my level of responsibility
They probably haven’t got the right skills either
DS has skills in many other areas and will probably be much more successful
DD has skills in different areas to both of us - it’s taken her s while to find her niche but now her confidence is growing and she is fairly ambitious so will hopefully succeed too

Chartered Accountant here, daughter to a Chartered Accountant, married to a Chartered Accountant. The 3 of us have all had very different careers and very varied. I'd recommend it to both of mine. DD has said she needs to become one to "follow on the family profession" (there's no family firm or anything - we're all employed) .

DS has ASD, so think he'd struggle doing our jobs (despite popular opinion, you do actually need to have social skills and some emotional intelligence to be a decent accountant).

Sure, I’m a journalist and it’s both creative and flexible. I wouldn’t want them to be accountants like DP though - extremely high stress and boring as hell!

Police officer here (detective). Wouldn't want my son to go the same route, mainly as I wouldn't want him being treated like shit by his employers. Or being put in unsafe positions by being sent alone into volatile situations. Policing used to be a brilliant job and I live what it's meant to be but it's awful now.

Well, I love my job, and it's fairly paid for what I do. But it's freelance, so zero guarantee of income. It can fluctuate wildly form year to year. I wouldn't want that for them. But the freedom, the enjoyment, the flexibility, the rewards of client satisfaction - all that - yes, I'd be very happy for them to have all that. Just in a more settled financial framework. Like full time employment.

I have the best job in the world. It has it's tough parts and has its bad days, and isn't brilliantly paid (22k starting) but job satisfaction is incredible and I wouldn't want to do anything else.

Urgh posted too soon. However dd (4) thinks it's disgusting and would much rather be a hairdresser!

I'm a teacher of 40 years and the move to Australia was a welcome change from the UK shite.

However.....it's heading in the direction of micromanagement. It won't work, because the union (note the singular) will see it off.

Would I recommend it? No. And that makes me sad, as I've enjoyed it up to now.

I'm a chartered accountant whose worked in small accountancy practices for 35 years. There's absolutely NO WAY my son will be following the same career path. Outside the cities, pay is awful and has been stagnant for years (on a par with teachers but without the perks such as pensions, holidays, etc). Definitely over-worked and under-appreciated.

We've had a succession of bureaucracy, laws, regulations, training & insurance obligations forced upon us that just sucks our time and energy and doesn't do anything for our clients. We've had to endure money laundering regulations, making tax digital, and now GDPR which is completely unnecessary as our own professional body rules regulate confidentiality, record keeping, record destruction, etc.

The word "accountant" isn't protected by law so literally anyone can (and does) set up as an accountant, without the client having any protection i.e. no training obligations, no insurance, no professional body to complain to etc - I pick up a lot of clients who've suffered at the hands of unqualified or part qualified "accountants" thinking they were properly regulated in the same way as solicitors, architects, etc.

I really can't wait to escape and retire, but it's a long way off as I've never been able to afford a decent pension, so in all likelihood, the best I can hope for is going part time as semi-retirement and then working till I drop.

I've had long conversations with my son and made it abundantly clear that he's not taking over my business, and if he wants to become an accountant, he's doing it via the industry/commerce route rather than accountancy practice. Hopefully, he will choose a different career!

I'd honestly be happy as long as my kids are doing something rewarding and out there earning money for themselves. They're both still too young to have a decent idea of what they want to do just now though.

My job isn't one I chose for myself. I kind of fell into working for the organisation and have then just hung around and worked my way up. I'm only doing the role I am now because the part time working hours are perfect for childcare. It's stressful, challenging and exhausting. But in some ways I do find it rewarding. As someone who never really had a clear idea of what I wanted to do, and never really had a 'skill' or a 'trade' because of that, I think I would encourage my kids to do something with a more vocational skill.

I’m a lecturer and I’d happily recommend it to my kids. Flexible hours (though they can sometimes be very long - I’m reading Mumsnet to avoid marking dissertations at the moment 😂), you get to teach topics your really interested in to young, bright, inquisitive minds, carry out research and consultancy, and the holidays are good (technically - though they’re often eaten up with research and conferences). The money is nowhere near as good as it was when I worked as a trainer in the private sector, but it’s worth is for the variety, intellectual stimulation, and getting to engage with (mostly) nice, smart, people. Probably the best bit is the warm feeling that comes from knowing you’ve helped students get good degrees, and into good jobs. I love following their progress on LinkedIn.

Another police officer that would actively discourage my ds’s from following in my footsteps. I actually think it’ll all be privatised by the time they’re joining the work force anyway.

@Lj8893 What do you do, if you don't mind saying? Curious as to what your 4 year old thinks is disgusting?!

Haha realised I didn't say! Midwife!

I teach and DH has his own company. I think both DC are far more likely to go towards DH area of work than follow mine.

I wouldn't discourage them from teaching but also wouldn't encourage them; it's a challenge and I can't imagine for one second that in fifteen years time it'll have improved much.

Journalist. Hmm - not sure. People entering younger than me ended up stuck on low salaries with little progression. I think I’d say - do it if you must - it’s a great job - but leave it if you’re not advancing rapidly...

@Lj8893 It's lovely to hear that you love being a midwife. Such an amazing thing to do but I would think it has some very tough moments.

I'm a lawyer and I'd be happy for my kids to follow in my footsteps in some ways - well paid, well respected, interesting, excellent career progression etc. But in others it's far from ideal - stressful, long hours, gender inequality, inflexible working, high levels of responsibility.

If they were ambitious and driven and saw career success as a priority I would happily see them be lawyers. But if they were more family oriented or didn't want stress and pressure, I might advise them against it! Or I'd at least encourage them gently in the direction of a less stressful area of law than the one I'm in.

I wouldn't mind if they chose the job I do now. I would advise against what I did for previous 14 years (criminal barrister)