“When my parents provided career inspiration and insight, I sometimes felt they were letting their own biases take over.”
“ Help your teen understand that a canceled internship or delayed entry to the workforce does not mean they failed. Remind them that just because their original plans have shifted directions or changed as a whole…”
- As a child is growing up their exposure to the field of jobs is very small, limited to what’s been shown to them or what they’ve seen on television. (that’s why there is such a high number of children wanting to be doctors, lawyers, and astronauts)
- As you get older you get exposed to more positions that interest you in the moment or for longer terms
- Parents putting their own personal bias into their answer when their child asks them what they want to be when they grow up may impact them
- Other things such as pressure from parents or restrictions on jobs may also impact this
- Exposure from a young age allows a child to slowly develop their own opinions about the field, and sometimes they do grow up to know what they really want to do because it’s something that they truly are interested in. instead of just being told they like it.
- Overall the best thing to do is allow your child to find something they are interested in, let they “dip their toes in ” and really see if they like it.
This topic was really interesting to me. As someone who thought I knew what I wanted to be for an extremely long time, I relate to lots of things from the article, such as the limited career knowledge based on experience and parent bias. I also wonder if there’s a more scientific approach to this question, since the article is more about what we can do on a personal level to impact it. It seems like a hard topic to do scientific research on, so I understand why there may not be, but I still wonder if there’s any out there.