041PARENTING columnist Luchae Williams shares her views and tips on talking to your child about career prospects.
IT’S almost Back to School time and I’m not entirely excited about ironing school shirts and packing lunches. But I do love that my daughter is thrilled that she gets to go back to her desk and friends. I mean, what other child is this excited about school?!
Lately, we’ve been talking about career and what her future is going to look like. I mean, I don’t know if you guys are aware, but your cute little poppet is going to morph into a hairy, sweaty, opinionated teenager eventually. And it can sometimes be suuuper challenging to have these types of convos with them at that age.
When my son was a (hairy, sweaty, opinionated) teen, I found that our biggest debates revolved around career. He was convinced that he could make a living off playing Xbox games. But alas, this option (even though it IS a real career nogals) was just not a realistic one.
It kinda made me realise that I should have delved deeper into the topic of career while he was still at primary school. If I had a time machine, I would totes start that convo when he was younger.
As a parent, we have a big influence on our kid’s career choices. It is never too early to start talking about “how do you plan to make money one day”, Knowing where your child’s interests and strengths lie, will help you to understand how to steer them towards an occupation that would suit them.
When a teen has found their career aspiration, they tend to make better career choices. A teen with a goal is not easily swayed! As a parent, you empower your child when you encourage them to do the research and to make up their own minds about their future.
The other mind-blowing fact (hold on to your pants, this could get messy) is that: what YOU want for your child may not be what THEY want for themselves. Like, I totes wanted my child to be a successful graphic designer/creative director/multimedia animator. He loves art. I love all things digital. Seems like the best thing for me him.
I had to let go of MY ideals and, instead, try to learn how to listen to his vision for his own life.
At the end of the day, friends, if you have a relationship with God, it’s never too early to lean on the Lord with regard to your child’s future/career. In fact, I’ve already begun to encourage my babies to speak to God and ask Him to reveal what He wants for their lives.
Teaching my child how to dream with God and plan with Him, is probably a better solution than, say, forcing him to do graphic design because I need someone to design the graphics for my website. *cough* I mean, figuratively speaking.
Anyways, my advice to moms with young kids is: Unpack your child’s interests and strengths at a young age and allow them to take the lead wrt their future careers and goals. Pray for wisdom. Pray for clever ways to gently coax them towards their destiny, without overstepping. Pray for your ego to be put aside, and for God’s will to be prevalent.
And most importantly, pray for patience, because you’re definitely going to need it.
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