When I was a step mom, I had the opportunity To all of a sudden be a role model to two young boys. And I often thought, “what’s the worst that could happen from telling them they could be whatever they wanted?” My ex and I never stopped saying that. And of course they have changed their paths many times and probably will continue to through out life.
It’s always been so crazy to me that we ask a 17-year-old kid to decide definitively what they want to do for the rest of their lives, then take out a bunch of debt in student loans to then go to a school that doesn’t necessarily prepare them for life.
I think if I had to go back to being a kid and someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, I would now say, “Content. Wise. Well traveled. Loved and happy. And the rest will fall into place.”
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Even though they might change their paths and to have the confidence to trust themselves and their judgment is such an amazing foundation.
I've never thought of it that way, how in the hell do we ask a teenager to decide what they want to do with their life?
Your last line makes me think of my favorite quote from John Lennon, "When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life."