Did you follow your childhood dreams?

[Night Elf]

When you were an adolescent, what did you hope to be doing when you were an adult?

 

I honestly cannot remember thinking career ever. I just wanted to be married and have kids. Now that my kids are teens, I'm wondering what on earth I'm going to do when they are all moved out. I'm trying to talk my kids into always living next door and giving me a gazillion grandbabies. So far, they all think I'm mad. :tongue_smilie:

 

My dd19 has no idea what she wants to do. She remembers wanting to be a vet when she was like 10 years old. When she was about 15 yrs. old, she wanted to be a pastry chef. Now, she has no interests. She's not thinking marriage and kids either. Poor child is just lost. Did I do something wrong as a parent that my child has no adult ambitions?

[Catherine]

You didn't do anything wrong. Some kids that age just don't know what they want, that's all. I followed my dreams and thank goodness. I wanted out of small town life and a bigger world for myself.

[nono]

No. I did not become a taxi driver.

 

 

 

 

 

Yet. :tongue_smilie:

[Princess Peach]

When I was in college, I figured I'd have a career. I wanted to get my PhD and be successful (at least how I defined it). I had no interest in kids and while I had boyfriends, no interest in marriage.

 

After graduating from college, I met my now DH. We married and had a baby 10 months later. I quit grad school because of the baby. When I was pg with DD, I quit my job to stay home full time. I've been home for 10 years now. I wouldn't change a thing for the world!

 

Sometimes you can't plan your life out. It just...happens. I'd let your DD explore her interests, maybe take some CC courses, and see where life takes her.

[jennynd]

I wanted to be a medical Dr. and I went very close. My national entry test score was high enough to get in but my high school teacher talked me out of it. I am a very emotionally attached person and my teacher didn't think I can handle to be a Dr. She might be right, but i still regret I didn't go for it

[ImperfectBird]

When you were an adolescent, what did you hope to be doing when you were an adult?

 

I honestly cannot remember thinking career ever. I just wanted to be married and have kids. Now that my kids are teens, I'm wondering what on earth I'm going to do when they are all moved out. I'm trying to talk my kids into always living next door and giving me a gazillion grandbabies. So far, they all think I'm mad. :tongue_smilie:

 

My dd19 has no idea what she wants to do. She remembers wanting to be a vet when she was like 10 years old. When she was about 15 yrs. old, she wanted to be a pastry chef. Now, she has no interests. She's not thinking marriage and kids either. Poor child is just lost. Did I do something wrong as a parent that my child has no adult ambitions?

 

 

When I was a small child I *always* said I wanted to be a "baby nurse" (work in the nursery at the hospital, in other words!) At some point in high school I got it in my head that I didn't want to be a nurse and wanted to be a child welfare social worker instead....so I went to college for that! I eventually worked as a social worker one year when my first son was a year old and I was so miserable. I hated the job and just wanted to be with my son, so I quit and I had another baby to boot :001_smile:

 

I'm perfectly satisfied being a mother now, but I'm like you...starting to wonder what I'm going to do with myself when they're grown up! Ironically, I'd really like to be a nurse again :001_smile: So I think once the kids have grown up a little I'll go back to school for that!

 

It's never too late to choose a career, I think! As for your daughter...you did absolutely nothing wrong! 19 yrs old is a hard age...not a kid anymore, but not an adult either. It's hard to know what you want to be at that age! Just give her some time :001_smile:

[regentrude]

No. Instead of becoming an opera singer I ended up a physics professor.

[Jen in PA]

Nope, I'm not an international relations specialist. I'm more or less a domestic operations specialist at this point.......

[fairfarmhand]

no, I didn't, but I am glad cause I like this life way better than the one I had dreamed of.

 

(except as a teen I dreamed that I was a much thinner adult)

[Night Elf]

I have talked my dd19 into trying some cc classes. I'm the one who did all the work to apply for both college and financial aid. She talked to me through it, but she wasn't the one to actually type in all the information. She is very lukewarm about the idea but has told me it wouldn't hurt to try. She is applying to a 2-yr and a 4-yr college, but I don't think she'll be accepted by the 4-yr college. She's lacking too many of the type of classes they want to see. She's not entirely happy with her current job and knows it is definitely not something she wants to do long-term. She just worries that she'll be as lost in college as she is now, but she'll be going into debt at the same time. It's certainly not an easy road for her right now.

[Night Elf]

(except as a teen I dreamed that I was a much thinner adult)

 

:lol: Me too! I was so used to being able to eat anything I wanted and not gain weight like my best friend. I just assumed it would always be that way.

[DawnM]

My childhood dream was to work for National Geographic as a Journalist around the world.

 

That would not have been a great career for a Mom.

 

I became a school counselor instead.

[dangermom]

I was going to be an archaeologist or the first woman president, but that was when I was a kid. Once I was a teen, I had no particular idea of what I was going to do at all. I wanted to go to college and be a lit major, but I had no clear idea of anything really. I was a senior in college when I finally decided that library school would be a good plan. I didn't even want to get married and have kids, though I figured it would happen someday safely far off in the future.

 

Next thing I knew, I was married and in library school. It all worked out fine, despite my utter lack of a specific plan. :)

[elegantlion]

I wanted to be an archaeologist. No one took me seriously, no one in our area or my circle of influence was an archaeologist. I quit trying and got married at 19, divorced at 23. Yeah, I'd go back and relive that if I could. I would have traveled around the world, making my own opportunities.

 

I still want to go dig in the dirt somewhere, but we're broke and I have crappy knees. :tongue_smilie: When I am old I will.

 

I don't think it's wrong to not know what you want to do. 19 is still young. I would continue to encourage, and make sure she doesn't buy into the garbage that if you haven't decided yet it's too late.

 

I do think some people are content to have a "job" not a career, and then live out their lives during non-working hours. If that makes any sense.

[*********]

No, I didn't follow my childhood dreams.

 

As a teen, I decided I wanted to be a nuclear engineer. I even got accepted to GMI (now called Kettering University). I attended for a year, then quit to work my co-op job full time.

 

I continued to work in the mechanical engineering field from ages 17-25. In that time, I saw my income go up 178%. I made a good living. But I HATED it.

 

I quit my career when I had Zee. And I never want to return to that field.

 

The main reason I wanted to be an engineer was because my dad encouraged me to. I have no brothers, and my dad really encouraged me to enter the field BECAUSE it's so male dominated. Kinda strange. :tongue_smilie: He really wanted me to prove that I could be as good as the guys.

 

Anyway, 'just' being a wife and mother was not something that was encouraged by my parents. But it's funny, 'cause now they seem quite supportive of it.

 

Strange how things change. :001_smile:

[Night Elf]

I do think some people are content to have a "job" not a career, and then live out their lives during non-working hours. If that makes any sense.

 

Yes, I think that's fine too. She was feeling that way with her last job. She became an assistant manager and they were training her to be the manager. It was a cafe type of restaurant in a mall. But she was working with a horrendous man who had some serious problems and took it out on the employees, especially her. I don't think he wanted to be promoted so he sabotaged her training by driving her out. I don't think she regrets leaving. She said she didn't want to work in the food industry anymore but then went and got a job as a server in a full-sized restaurant. She's making pretty good money but she doesn't like the job nearly as well as she did her last job. It's very demanding work and they are short staffed so she's been working every single day for at least a month now. They finally hired more servers and they are all in training. They've promised her she'll will start having some days off but the schedule was put up and she's still working every day this week too. She's just beside herself.

[beaners]

I wanted to be a homesteader when I went into kindergarten and when I graduated high school. We have a lot of animals and a big garden. I'm happy with it, but my parents are still waiting for me to have some adult ambitions. :D

[jennsmile]

I planned to get a teaching degree but alway really just wanted to be a mom and homeschool. I am living my dream. I do wish I had taken music in college but other than that I am pretty happy with how things turned out.

[SailorMom]

Not even close!

I wanted to be one of three things - a marine biologist, a genetic engineer, or a forensic scientist.

Got married to my hs sweetheart, and about 5 years later became a SAHM.

I've struggled occasionally with the "what if's" - but finally, about 3 years ago - i finally came to the conclusion that I wouldn't change a thing if I could.

Funny, though - both my DH and closest female friend both did. DH is an Air Force pilot, and my friend is an art teacher.

[Karen in CO]

My childhood aspirations (rocket scientist) guided me to college where I found something new to guide me (I'm not a rocket scientist or a pirate which was my other childhood ambition). You don't need all of the answers at 19, thankfully. My ds found his inspiration at a job he had at 18 - registering voters. That inspiration to "change the world, one person at a time" combined with his childhood love of Manga led him to an International Relations major in Japan looking toward a career in diplomacy, but he is a long way from having it all figured out.

 

I'd suggest she take some general classes, find a job that is a little bit interesting even if it isn't mainstream, and volunteer somewhere. Once she's busy enough, hopefully she won't feel so lost while she's finding her way.

[jar7709]

I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do as a teen, either, but I knew that whatever it was, I needed to find it interesting, and I knew enough to try to put myself in a place where I could find out what that thing would be. I was lucky that I was able to go to a great liberal arts college and figure it out. :001_smile:

[Stacia]

My childhood dream was to work for National Geographic as a Journalist around the world.

 

We could have worked together. I always wanted to work for Nat'l Geo as a mapmaker. Well, that or be a helicopter pilot or an astronaut.

 

Needless to say, none of those things have panned out for me. (So far....)

 

As a teen & into my early 20s, I felt strongly that I would go into writing/editing/publishing & I did. I was a technical writer/editor for over 10 years (before stopping to become a SAM & hser).

[Georgiana Daniels]

Yes!

 

The only thing I EVER wanted to be was a writer, but I lost sight of the dream as an older teen/young adult. Finally reclaimed it in my 30's--and now it's all coming together.

 

OP, you didn't do anything wrong as a parent. Not everyone has a burning passion right off. For some, it's a process of discovery and a longer journey than for others.

[Remudamom]

I'm real close. Wanted to be a vet and now I'm glad I'm not although it would be handy for dh. I do way too much vet work. But I have lots of space and animals.

[lailasmum]

Growing up I hated kids and never wanted them. I wanted to work in Theatre, TV, film or photography. Did a mixed degree in Photography/TV/Graphic design. Ended up working in theatre stage management (and a few other technical theatre jobs) for a few years before having kids. So I pretty much got my dream.

 

I gave up work when I had kids other than one show when my dd was 6months. Towards the end I hated theatre. I love theatres and the process of putting on a show but theatre people can be truly nasty and backstabbing and generally staff are looked after badly. Plus with all the travelling it's a job for young unattached people.

 

I now wish I had taken a totally different path to start with and been less caught up with getting my dream. I think leaving it a while to decide on a direction in life is not a bad thing. I think I was too immature at 18 to really know what I wanted.

[MeaganS]

I always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. I didn't necessarily always want to homeschool, but that desire has sort of followed naturally. When I was dating my dh, I was so nervous about bringing up the subject of my being a sahm because I knew it was a deal-breaker for me. Luckily, he supports me 100%.

 

I still have no career aspirations, which was always weird for me because I was at the top of my class and people expected it of me. I just don't have a desire for that sort of thing I guess.

 

I'm actually having a problem with my oldest right now because she was diagnosed autistic recently and we've put her in a full-time (8 hours a day) early intervention program. I'm struggling with the fact that they are basically raising my daughter for me, but I do plan on bringing her back home for Kindergarten.

[happyhomemaker25]

I always, always wanted to be a stay at home wife and mother with a bunch of kids. So, yes, I am living my dream! :) I thought I would be much better at it though. :glare:

It was so hard growing up though because that was never acceptable.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I want to get married and have a bunch of kids and stay home and take care of everyone!"

"Oh." Pause. "What else do you want to be?"

My kids all have a lot of things lined up for what they want to do. Silently, I do hope my girls will be stay at home homeschooling mamas. I don't see our education system improving any for my grandchildren. I will let them find their own paths though.

[Barb_]

No. I did not become a taxi driver.

 

 

 

 

 

Yet. :tongue_smilie:

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[Trilliums]

I didn't have specific goals until I started college and began studying botany. As I went on to grad school, I planned on conducting research in soil science. DH and I married and I defended my dissertation while pregnant with DS. I did teach Biology for a while after he was born, but juggling child care while DH was doing a post-doc was, erm, problematic and really felt wrong to me (for our situation--I know many people choose this route for a variety of reasons). Once our two boys reached school aged, I had planned to work again, but then we started homeschooling! Now I run a small flower farm, so I do get to ponder the soil often enough. :)

 

DH has pretty much pursued his dreams of his older teen years--become a chemistry professor.

[Kate in Arabia]

I always wanted to travel. For a long time I wanted to join the Foreign Service; I took the written exam but missed the cutoff by 1 point. :glare: Some 10 years later, after I got married and had a kid and my life had gone in a totally different direction, I received a notice that they decided the exams back in those years were unfairly slanted against women, so all the women who had missed the cutoff by one or two points were now considered to have passed and were invited to do the oral assessment. I was so tempted, but that avenue was just not open to me anymore.

 

I did achieve the dream of lots of travel, but not in the way I had expected...

[tristangrace]

I'm pretty sure I am supposed to be preparing my fourth or fifth major novel for publication at this point in life. I'm a little behind, having not yet begun a first draft for number one . . . :tongue_smilie:

[TheresaBond]

I am glad to hear this because I see this with my girls too and I worry about it. So many homeschool moms seem to say their kids are going to be meteorologists or scientists or whatever and my girls have no direction. Maybe fashion design, but don't all girls say that at some point?

 

As for me, I always had something in mind. A teacher or a writer...hmmm...I guess since I homeschool and blog maybe I kinda do both, although I guess I thought i would get paid for doing them! lol.

[NASDAQ]

I assumed I'd be a lawyer (since my parents both were) and I wanted eight kids.

 

I did become a lawyer. I have three children. But there's still time!

[Mommy22alyns]

No, I didn't. I never in a million years would have guessed that I'd be doing what I am now.

[myfunnybunch]

Nope, sigh....I am STILL not a fairy princess or a horse.

 

Darn.

 

Cat

[*Inna*]

Yes. I always wanted to be a wife and mom.

 

Ambitious child... ;)

[Rhonda in TX]

I wish I had waited to make up my mind. I just wasn't aware of all my options. As I was finishing college, I kept hearing about all these different careers that had never occurred to me. There are so many possibilities!

[Elinor Everywhere]

I'm 37 and still don't know what I want. I never really did. Although I feel content most of the time so I guess I'm doing something I like.

 

This is me. I ended up stumble-bumbling into a lucrative profession, had some good years in that career, gave it up to homeschool (which was weird, because I don't like kids and never knew anyone who homeschooled), ended up loving it, and here we are.

 

In the immortal words of the Talking Heads, "How did I get here?" :lol:

[Elinor Everywhere]

Yes. I always wanted to be a wife and mom.

 

Ambitious child... ;)

 

Actually, I envy you and think you are extremely fortunate. I wish I had known what I wanted to be.....but I just drifted and thank God it all worked out much better than I ever could have expected. But to know, and to achieve exactly your heart's desire.......very nice.

[kalanamak]

 

My dd19 has no idea what she wants to do. She remembers wanting to be a vet when she was like 10 years old. When she was about 15 yrs. old, she wanted to be a pastry chef. Now, she has no interests. She's not thinking marriage and kids either. Poor child is just lost. Did I do something wrong as a parent that my child has no adult ambitions?

 

I wanted to be good at SOMEthing, but didn't have clue as to what that would be. After much undergrad and working and various delays, I decided to just pick what I'd been told for years I should do (not by family, family had the sense to never say a word). It was scary, and I did feel I was making a plunge into the dark. I "made" it, but if I'd failed, I don't know what I would have done. I told myself I'd switch to agronomy, but it would have been hard to "fail", for me.

[Miss Marple]

Childhood dream was to be Pocahontas (or an Indian Princess). When I was old enough to realize that wouldn't work, I wanted to be an airline stewardess, then a brain surgeon, then a spy (still want to do that), most definitely didn't want to marry and have kids. I became a pharmacist...and I love to read spy/mystery novels :), married with 4 children :tongue_smilie:

Edited March 28, 2012 by CynthiaOK

[*Inna*]

Actually, I envy you and think you are extremely fortunate. I wish I had known what I wanted to be.....but I just drifted and thank God it all worked out much better than I ever could have expected. But to know, and to achieve exactly your heart's desire.......very nice.

Well, that didn't quite work in the beginning. I needed to be off my parents' neck and a prince charming whom I married turned out quite the opposite. So I ran away and I finished the nursing school and worked a lot.

 

But you are right. I'm extremely fortunate and this was a good reminder. :001_smile:

[Dandelion]

Nope.

 

As a child, I wanted to be an architect. As a teen, I wanted to be a flight attendant and travel the world (even had my Lufthansa application all filled out when I was 17 - but let my high school principal talk me out of it).

 

I ended up getting an MBA and had a 20 year career in business/management (8 years in the restaurant industry, 2 years in insurance, and the last 10 years in high tech). Not even close to what I thought I'd grow up to be.

 

Your DD will be just fine. :)

[Aelwydd]

When I was 9 years old, I wanted to be a racehorse jockey, but my mother put the ixnay on that. :glare:

 

I was really into science, sci-fi, and technology, but I wasn't sure what direction to go with that. Totally was not into engineering or that sort of thing. I ended up with a degree in public health, with an emphasis on environmental science, and I work for a telecom/ technology company now.

 

Besides the jockey thing, I didn't have a crystal clear idea of what I wanted to be. I just knew I wanted to do something that involved my interests in science, and preferably, writing.

 

My parents pushed me and my sisters to go to college and/or pursue meaningful career work besides marriage/family. Therefore, it wasn't so much a "dream" as it was an expectation that each of us would either go to college for a career, or in the case of one sister, use her artistic abilities to start her own business.

 

I've fulfilled some dreams, and I still have others I want to realize. I'm still pretty young, so there's a host of possibilities. ;)

[elegantlion]

In the immortal words of the Talking Heads, "How did I get here?" :lol:

 

To save others the trouble of finding the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU:lol::lol: I often quote the lyrics to myself. I have no idea how I got here either.

[kroe1]

As a kid, I wanted to be a performer. No such luck other than briefly singing in a junior high school choir. Luckily for me, however, DD11 is a performer. So I get to live out my dreams through her.

 

In regards to my young adult dreams, yes, I get to live them out weekend nights in the emergency room. I am very grateful for this.

 

:)

[Cammie]

I wanted to be an archaeologist. When I am old I will.

 

QUOTE]

 

 

:iagree: I wanted to be an archaeologist my whole life!! Somehow, when it came time to college I switched to International Relations (I think someone scared me with all the math involved in archaeology supposedly.) I still wish I had done it...I am looking for ways to follow it as a hobby these days. There are some really cool podcasts about archeological discoveries around the world.

[Chris in VA]

When I was about 16, I wanted to be a teacher of deaf kids, maybe a horseback riding teacher who owned a stable and taught deaf kids.

 

I didn't really want to teach, I wanted to ride and use sign language. ;)

 

Before that I wanted to be a vet. I didn't want to do anything a vet would do, I just loved animals.

 

I think lots of kids pick a career when they are young but have no idea that it's more than just working with what interests them.

[EKS]

I wanted to be a poet/writer or a musician or an artist.

 

About halfway through college, my goal changed and I wanted to go to become a doctor who did research in her spare time (MD/PhD). Let's just say that didn't happen! But I did become a biochemist. Then I moved into medical/scientific writing for a few years after the older kid was born because I could do it part time from home.

 

Then I started homeschooling and have done that ever since.

 

I *never* thought I'd be a scientist and certainly *NEVER* thought I'd be homeschooling!

[Cinder]

Did I follow my childhood dreams? No. But I ended up there anyway. Sort of. Growing up I'd always wanted to be a math teacher. At some point in high school I decided I wanted to be an engineer. I really didn't know what kind of engineer, but science and math-loving kids are supposed to become engineers, right? So I went to school to study civil engineering. Didn't do very well, and when I entered the military I ended up working in personnel.

 

Years later I left the military when ds1 was born. We eventually decided to try homeschooling because ds was already reading and writing but wasn't old enough for K at the ps. So I *did* end up being a math teacher in a way. Here's the really funny part. When I was in high school I thought hotel maid or short-order cook would be fun summer jobs. I never had one of those jobs then. But now . . . :lol::lol::lol: