Our Children's Future

Our Children's Future

What they'll be when they grow up hasn't been invented yet

My daughter wants to be a writer, an artist, a candy store owner, an app developer and about a half a dozen other things on any given day. The other night she was getting settled in bed and let out a long sigh.

“What’s up puddin’ ?

“Well, I was just thinking ... there are so many things I want to be and learn and do, how will I ever decide?" 

There was no sense pointing out that she was only 10 and had lots of time, that wasn’t the answer she was looking for. She’s old enough and smart enough to know the reality of that truth, she was going deeper that night.

Instead I told her what I believe, what I envy about her being 10 - that the world she is growing up in will allow for her the chance to be all those things if she wanted. At various times, at the same time and not for all time. Gone are the days of being one thing, I told her. You could own a candy store that you decorate with your own art and about which you write and, in your free time, you could develop an app that makes art out of candies. If people are even still using apps by then. Or eating candy for that matter. They may just put on a hat that lets them experience the happiness of eating candy without being within five miles of a lollipop. You may want to make those and be a Cranial Experience Helmet Engineer.

More on the subject -

Yesterday I read this great piece from a Gen Y mom. HAving read it I can say; "I wish I was 10 today and I'm so relieved I wasn’t 10 in 2000! 

Excerpt from The Question That Ruined Generation Y - by Lea Grover 

There is no, "What do you want to be?" There is only, "What are you doing now?"
And so I'm not going to ask my kids. I'm not going to imply that there's an end result -- that there's a final destination at which you have arrived, when you have grown up and are what you thought you wanted to be.
I'm going to ask my kids what they like. What they're interested in.
I'm not going to tell them that it matters what they get their degrees in. I'm going to tell them that opportunity is what you make of it, that your life is defined by your actions, and that whatever you're prepared for will be another door that can open for you.
I'm going to encourage them to study everything. Science, math, humanities, fine arts, business, languages. I'm going to encourage them to be Renaissance women, because there is no assurance that any jobs I know today, any careers, will still exist.