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Original poster

Did you achieve what you set out to be?

71 replies

lou33 · 25/02/2003 14:40

I just wondered if anyone achieved their ambition of what they wanted to be when they were a child? After a conversation with 3 of my children it made me remember what I really wanted to do when I was an adult (dancer) but I wasn't able to after a series of knee injuries. I sort of wafted around from job to job then until I got pg. Did you get where you wanted to be, and is it all you expected it to be?

Btw dd1 said she wants to be a doctor (she's 10), dd2 wants to be a princess ,or failing that a pop star (6), and ds1 wants to be a giant and a sword fighter (4)! I wonder how to prepare some of them for the disappointment ?!

OP posts:
SoupDragon · 25/02/2003 14:43

When I was little, I used to want to work in a wellington boot factory putting in the furry insoles. I'm pleased to say I never achieved it!

DS1 (then 3) wanted to be a crocodile. Now he's 4 he wants to be a fireman.

Original poster
lou33 · 25/02/2003 14:47

Hehe soupdragon. Reminds me of dd2 when she was about 3 was definite that when she got older she would become a boy!

OP posts:
sashaboo · 25/02/2003 14:59

I wanted to be a farmer when I was little, only to be told I couldn't but I could always be a farmer's wife! I too wanted to be a boy after that. I think feminism bypassed the north of England in the 70s.

When I realised where meat came from however, I decided not to fight it

NQWWW · 25/02/2003 15:10

I wanted to be a bus conductor. I so admired the way they confidently walked up and down the bus without holding on, the smart uniform and the fantastic little machine with the handle to produce the tickets.

I was just about to say thank goodness I never did, then remembered my current job isn't all that either.......

Bugsy · 25/02/2003 15:14

Good question Lou. When I was a very little girl, I wanted to be a ballerina (original)!!!! Did ballet classes for 12 years and by the time I was 16 sussed out that I had no natural talent at all. For years (from about 10 years old to 17) thought I would like to be a speech therapist. Then grasped what it was really all about i.e. not just me standing there talking alot and decided that wasn't for me either!
Then thought maybe HR and ended up in Financial PR. To be brutally honest, never really had a clue, never had any decent career guidance from school or parents, so made it all up as I went along!
Would love to hear if there is someone who fulfilled a childhood dream.
Currently, when ds1 (3.5) grows up he wants to be bigger!!!! Unlikely, to be up for any disappointment there then.

hmb · 25/02/2003 15:19

Dh wanted to be a pilot and is one now. I wanted to be a history teacher and then a scientist. I made it as a scientist, and am now training to be a science teacher.
But the coolest example was a boy in my Junior school who wanted to be a cartoonist, and was constantly being told he was being silly. He now works for Disney, and has been involved with lots of their big name films.

PandaBear · 25/02/2003 15:24

I always wanted to be a lawyer - and took it as far as doing a law degree before I realised that it wasn't the career for me. My sister wanted to be an air hostess (orignal!!) and has ended up as a Scenes of Crime Officer - I suppose they could amount to the same thing, I mean the meals they serve you on airlines can't be legal!!!

Marina · 25/02/2003 15:31

I wanted to be an actress, but despite a degree in the subject and lots of youth theatre experience, I realised I really wasn't talented or determined enough. But I do work in a performing arts college, and that is a fantastic, rewarding job in a related field.
Ds wants to be Mr Bennett, our grandfatherly and kind-hearted builder/handyman. I think it's just an excuse to drink tea and chuck spanners about...

Scatterbrain · 25/02/2003 15:32

Not me - there wasn't much call for fairies when I graduated !!

sprout · 25/02/2003 15:49

I'm still looking for opportunities for ballerinas with short, fat legs...

aloha · 25/02/2003 15:55

I wanted to be Enid Blyton, and am a writer with a secret ambition to write children's books. So not so far away. I did read once that people who fulfilled their childhood ambition - whatever it was - tended to be most happy in their work. However, I think the modern pressures to be famous/a celebrity distort children's values. There was something rather purer and more honest about wanting to be a nurse or fireman - sexist though it may have been. Lou33, you never know, you may well be nurturing a doctor, the new Gace Kelly/Kylie and a stuntman

elliott · 25/02/2003 16:05

This makes me feel like my life's already over....surely there's still time? isn't there??
I too wanted to be a nurse. when I announced this to my mum, she said, 'why not be a doctor?'
I said, 'don't be silly mummy, women can't be doctors....'
But somewhere along the line her counter-propaganda must have worked....

mum2toby · 25/02/2003 16:15

I always wanted to be a Vet. Didn't get the grades, unfortunately. Then I wanted to work for the RSPCA. I went to Uni anyway and studied a Science-related subject and have NEVER used my degree in any of my jobs since graduating (5 years ago!)!! I haven't even had a job working with animals. >sigh<

There's time yet........ isn't there??!??

NQWWW · 25/02/2003 16:29

Don't know about there still being time - not much call for bus conductors these days

Demented · 25/02/2003 16:46

When I was little I wanted to be a Firelady. Then when I was slightly older I wanted to be a piano teacher but then I realised I only enjoyed playing the piano and wasn't too fussed about the theory side.

Original poster
lou33 · 25/02/2003 17:44

Some of these are funny! I guess the amount of time left depends on what you want/wanted to do. I can't imagine there is much demand for a 36 year old dancer with dodgy knees wiggling her booty in hotpants and stubby legs in the back ground at totp, but I guess if I wanted to be a bus conductor I still could!

It also looks like I am never going to have an empty house either. Dd1 has announced she is going to leave home at 26, but dd2 is staying put, and ds1 says he is staying home and being mummy's boy forever . Ds2 is too young to voice his opinion yet, but I suspect there are going to be 2 mummy's boys in this house!

OP posts:
ks · 25/02/2003 17:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

helenmc · 25/02/2003 18:14

I wanted to be an archaelogist - does digging around in the kiddies bedrooms count?

robinw · 25/02/2003 18:20

message withdrawn

eidsvold · 25/02/2003 18:57

strangely I did - I wanted to be a high school teacher of history and english for as long as I could remember. I taught in high schools for over 10 years in Australia and taught english in high school and sixth form here in the UK until the birth of my dd.

However my original intention in coming to the UK was to work to travel and enjoy myself. Little did I know in the space of a couple of years I would be married to a great guy and have a beautiful dd.

GeorginaA · 25/02/2003 19:11

I really wanted to work in the Space Industry. Got a degree in astrophysics but "only" got a third so kind of got sidetracked into training for a PGCE (teaching) instead.

Got to December of the course and discovered that a) I absolutely loathed physics now (think I overdosed!) and b) I couldn't 150% be a teacher (by that point I just really wanted a job I could leave when 5 o'clock came around. Really admire teachers now though.

Worked in Customer Service for 5 years then had ds. Am now an SAHM. I think I feel more fulfilled being at home with ds than I ever was in any of my other "career decisions". Ugh, just read that last sentence back, it sounds so saccharine... but it's true, honest!

Claireandrich · 25/02/2003 19:37

I wanted to be a teacher from being about 10 years old. I did my A-levels and got the degree, and I am now a teacher of secondary ICT/computing. However, now after 7 years I am coming to the conclusion that I am not sure it is for me after all. I can't 'do' with the aggressive and appaling pupil behaviour I have at my current school. So I am currently looking for new ideas - reading this with interest! Now, a princess, fairy ... we will have to see!!!

WideWebWitch · 25/02/2003 19:56

There's a tape of me somewhere, recorded when I was about 6, saying "I want to Act" in very actressy tones. I think I changed my mind at about 11 when I went to some very intimidating drama classes. I've wanted to be a writer since I was about 25 and have been, sometimes. So no, I haven't achieved what I set out to but I haven't really tried hard enough. I don't think 36 is too late though.

jac34 · 25/02/2003 20:03

When I was small I wanted to be a hairdresser.
The nearest I've got to it, is hacking at my own fringe when I can't find time to go to the hairdressers.
My second choice, was the job I do now, and I am very happy in my work.
One of my DS's(4yo), said he wanted to be a vet, so he could cut the animals open !!!!
My other DS(4yo) said he wants to be a Daddy, and he wants a boy and a girl, perhaps thats what comes of having a p/t SAHD.

lucy123 · 25/02/2003 20:34

Claireandritch - have you thought about teaching adults? The job is very insecure and the pay a bit rubbish (because you often have to develop your own courses and don't get paid development time), but it is very rewarding.

I always wanted to be a teacher or a writer. I do teach sometimes (well, I did), and I've been getting into writing copy for websites as well as programming them. So yes, I did acheive what i set out to. Kind of.

(NB it is slightly embarrassing admitting to wanting to be a writer. The writing in my posts bears no real relation to my actual skill, I hope. I wonder if anyone will ever publish a posthumous collection of web postings of a famous writer?)

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