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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:
WideWebWitch · 25/02/2003 20:37

lucy123, IKWYM about admitting to wanting to be a writer and then thinking someone will read your posts and think 'yeah, right, in your dreams love,' Me too

Chiccadum · 25/02/2003 20:41

Alright, Alright, I know I will sound corny when I say this but the only thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a mum and have a stable environment and loving Dh, looks like I got mine.

Eowyn · 25/02/2003 21:03

I asked dd what she wanted to be when she grows up only last week, she thought & replied "a teddy bear".
I've always wanted to paint or write but am not good enough at either. Hoped motherhood would be my vocation, couldn't have been more wrong. Still waiting to find out what to do with my life...

Chiccadum · 25/02/2003 21:09

Eowyn, I always wanted to be a painter, but unfortunately the only kind I'm good at is the decorating kind. It amazes me to watch artists at work, a friend of mine is in the process of doing a drawing of dd1 and dd2.

I know I said that all I wanted to be when I grew up was a mum, oooohhhhh if only I'd know then what I know now, apart from the fact, that little girls are not all sugar and spice

Eowyn · 25/02/2003 21:27

I go to an art class one evening a week now which is good but kind of convinces me that either you've got it, or not. The rhyme that is truest about little girls is the one that goes "when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad she was Horrid".

Chiccadum · 25/02/2003 21:31

Definately, I could not agree more, when dd1 is asleep she has the face of an angel, long eyelashes (which I am so jealous off) and masses of tumbling ringlets and she also very dark skinned, but, as soon as she opens those big brown eyes that's it, the curl falls immediately into place. Last night she told me to P* Off again just for me asking her to put her jim jams on.

Eowyn · 25/02/2003 21:39

Mine was driving me nuts yesterday then suddenly asked if I loved her...so I had to be all nice which was a bit wierd. She always starts yelling when we're about to eat in the eve & I can never stay calm & objective. Even in her most annoying clingyness she would rest her cheek on my hand & say I like you mummy, no wonder my emotions are permanently all over the place.
Could go on forever but better not...

anais · 25/02/2003 22:16

I never really knew what I wanted to do - the only thing that I consistently knew I wanted to was be a mummy and have lots of kiddies. And being a mum continues to be what I want to do. I can't imagine loving anything more than this. I want lots more babies, I want to adopt and then later to foster. I can't imagine anything better than being with children.

When I was young I wanted to write, to paint (still dreams and hopes for the future) to be a nurse...I ended up getting pg while I was still doing my A'levels. I certainly think motherhood is the best thing that could have happened to me.

miggy · 25/02/2003 22:22

ds1 (9) has wanted to be a paleontologist since he was about 2. Always funny when kindly adults asked what he wanted to be "pawleontholokist" he would say, lots of people still dont know when you translate! dd is keen on becoming angelina ballerina- just have to work on the mouse transmogrification potion!

willow2 · 25/02/2003 22:44

I wanted to be a vet.

I couldn't get my head around chemistry though.

I did do a stint as a director on Animal Hospital though.

Does that count?

aloha · 25/02/2003 22:47

I don't think you should be shy about saying you want to be a writer. I said it long before I became one - a journalist - and it helped me get there - a. by making it more real in my head and keeping me focussed and b. by letting other people know my ambitions so they could help me get there. I truly believe this philosophy - say it out loud to make it happen - also works to make lots of other dreams and ambitions come true.

Clarinet60 · 25/02/2003 23:21

I WANT TO BE A WRITER
I WANT TO BE A WRITER
I WANT TO BE A WRITER

Joking aside, I wanted to be an astronaut first, then a writer, then, during an odd, shallow, dippy phase in my teens, a hairdresser. (Now, I'm not saying that all hairdressers are shallow, odd or dippy .......)

mears · 25/02/2003 23:33

I always wanted to be a midwife - realy from secondary school though. My sister wrote in primary school (age 7yrs I think) that she wanted to be a vet - and she is. It is funny reading her little story now.

mears · 25/02/2003 23:33

By the way - for those who don't know me - I am a midwife

SnoobyKat · 26/02/2003 07:05

I embarrassed my parents at my very first parents evening at school when I was 6. I was the last one to be asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. All the kids said they wanted to be train drivers/doctors/nurses/actors etc etc but I said I wanted to be a nun! I ended up spending 15 years in the computer industry before being F/T mum to DS1 (17mo) but I do read the lessons in church and arrange the flowers - does that count?

Meid · 26/02/2003 10:10

I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

slug · 26/02/2003 10:10

I wanted to be a boy. Even at an early age I could work out the inherent sexism of the world.

The two things I was definate I DIDN'T want to be were a teacher and a mother. Oh how my illusions have been shattered.

I'm sure theat dd will become an actress. She's a major drama queen already.

zippyb · 26/02/2003 10:25

I really wanted to be an actress - then I entered the real world! Still have a yearning to join drama society - keep saying I will go for it but never get round to it - oh for the confidence of youth!!

aloha · 26/02/2003 10:41

Actually Droile, Neuro Linguistic Programming adherants believe that you have to say, "I AM A WRITER" to make it happen (ie you convince yourself first, others after). I think a lot of it is utter tosh, but I think that makes sense. I AM A MILLIONAIRE! I EARN MILLIONS OF POUNDS A YEAR! I AM A PERFECT MOTHER!

lucy123 · 26/02/2003 10:52

how about I AM WORKING HARD AND NOT BEING SIDETRACKED BY MUMSNET ?

babster · 26/02/2003 12:45

When I was in my early teens and getting fed up with people asking what I wanted to be, I used to tell them, 'An undertaker'. Amazing how it shut them up.

When I was tiny I wanted to be an artist, but I ended up studying languages and working in translation. Dd1 (3) wants to be a zoo-keeper... she can do her own laundry!

oxocube · 26/02/2003 13:05

When I grow up, I'll let you all know! Could be quite a wait though

prufrock · 26/02/2003 13:16

My Mum has a video of me aged 6 very seriously telling everybody at a party that "when I grow up I want to do soliciting" I got very upset when everybody laughed at me.

addle · 26/02/2003 13:27

The 4-year-old daughter of friend of mine told her parents she wanted to be a police dog when she grew up...

Philippat · 26/02/2003 13:50

I wanted to be a maths teacher, thankfully that never carried through (no offence to you maths teachers out there but art galleries are much nicer places to work).

DH wanted to be a mechanic (now writer and artist) - I am SO glad that never worked out as he can't even change a lightbulb and last week accidentally snapped the cable to open the car bonnet.

DD is going to be in telesales if she carries on the way she's going right now.

One of my friend's children wanted to be a bunny when she grew up.