What did you want to be at 12-14?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Artist

 

Me too!

[Baile]

Duchess of Cambridge. 

[jewellsmommy]

A virologist, specifically an epidemiologist. I didn't change my mind until 17 when I realized how incongruent my personal/life ambitions were with my career ambition.

[Corraleno]

Only 1000 books and ONE cat?

 

I figured with one cat I'd only have to climb down to empty the litter box once a week.  :laugh:

[lynn]

At that age I wanted to be a secretary. I loved organizing, keeping schedules, taking messages etc. I had a great job I loved before becoming stay at home mom 23 years ago.

[Closeacademy]

I think by then I had grown out of my professional gambler dream and decided on being a writer.

[VANURSEPRAC]

 I don't remeber what I wanted to be at 12-14, but I do remember at 16, I wanted to be a movie star and drive a Mercedeces. I thought all you had to do was want it and it would happen.......

[Squawky Acres]

I wanted to be a poet . . . or an attorney.  

[hollyhock]

I wanted to be a farmer's wife with two kids. I am one now, but there are a few extra kids. :D

[LucyStoner]

Religious: a Catholic nun.

 

That was torpedoed by a loss of faith and the guy I met and later married.

 

Non-religious: speaker of the House of Representatives or fiction writer.

 

While the former is more than a little unlikely (snort) and the latter as it turns out I really not gifted for (great non-fiction writer, sucktastic fiction writer) there does remain a chance that I will enter local politics in some fashion at some point down the line.

Edited May 7, 2016 by LucyStoner

[mom@shiloh]

I wanted to be a farmer's wife with two kids. I am one now, but there are a few extra kids. :D

:laugh:  I wanted to be a farmer's wife with twelve kids.  I'm two kids short, and I didn't marry a farmer, but I have a large garden and a barn with a few animals.  Guess that's close enough. 

[MrsWeasley]

At 12, I wanted to be a writer. By the time I was 15, I had already lost my confidence and wanted to be an editor (though to be fair, I still really like helping people rework their writing). 

[creekland]

A horse/animal trainer.  I was already doing both for fun at that age.

 

We've had ponies on our own farm for close to 20 years now and I work in a public high school, so I suppose I got close.   :lol:

 

I didn't want to be a teacher at that time though.  I wasn't terribly fond of or patient with people.  Time can change (some) things.  I love working with teens now.  ;)

 

I can't say I do either for a living though.  Both are just hobbies really.  Hubby is the one who works to pay our bills.  My income is extra.

 

If I had to have a real job, it would be teaching at this point and it would be super easy to get a job at my current employer (esp since they've been wanting me there for a long time).

 

I don't want a real job.  I'd prefer traveling 24/7, with hubby.  We haven't won the lottery yet, so it remains a dream.

[HSmomof2]

I wanted to be a doctor, a neurologist specifically. I think I would have loved that as a career. But, I became more interested in a boy than being in school for so long.

[knoxinsox]

I wanted to be a back up singer for Randy Travis.   

 

My second choice was to have a job where I could dress up.  Management or something. And drive a motorcycle.  I am now a treehugger who never dresses up, hated working in an office, and traffic scares me.

 

I still have no idea what I want to do.  If only Pinterest could pay me for pinning things.  

[Stacia]

Helicopter pilot.

[Crimson Wife]

In jr high, I wanted to be a science teacher because I liked science and kids.

 

In my 1st undergrad, I wanted to be a pediatrician because I liked science and kids.

 

I'm now studying to become a speech & language pathologist.

 

(we won't talk about my high school interest in law nor my post-college boring jr executive job)

[Mothersweets]

I wanted to be a rock star. :laugh:

 

Or a librarian. I wish I would have gone for being a librarian irl.

[Tanaqui]

I'm now studying to become a speech & language pathologist.

 

Something which also seems to include both science and kids.

 

[DawnM]

Hmmm.....I think back then I was still looking into medicine.  My father is a doctor and I used to watch him do surgery when I was on vacation from boarding school.  

 

It wasn't until 10th grade Chemistry, and a not so stellar grade, that I realized medicine may not be in my future.

 

Then I wanted to be a journalist for National Geographic magazine, and travel to countries others wouldn't want to venture into.  Remote, war torn, dangerous, I would take it all. It fascinated me.

 

Instead I wound up becoming a teacher, primarily ESL, and worked with those FROM war torn, dangerous locations and I worked in an area that many wouldn't venture into.  Not quite the same, but close enough.

[UCF612]

After my years of wanting to be a spy I switched to movie director. Then took a high school tv production class and changed my mind. I got to college and wanted to work for USA Olympics. I spent a summer interning at the Olympic Training Center with USA Archery. Came home and felt I'd accomplished that goal. So I went back to get a master's in education to be a teacher. I enjoyed my years working at sporting events the most of all but if I ever go back to work again it'll probably be back to teaching just because it'll be easiest to break back into I imagine.

[FaithManor]

A classical pianist or a marine biologist. I was well on my way to both and my senior year applied to six music schools and six universities well known for marine bio. I was having a really tough time deciding but landed with piano and have no regrets.

 

It is kind of weird but my other two sibs knew that young, and two of my four have as well. Dh on the other hand was certain at 14 the he was headed into cardio thoracic surgery, but then after a comp sci class, fell in love with tech and never looked back.

Edited May 7, 2016 by FaithManor

[Pink and Green Mom]

At 12, I had two goals.  To marry any member of Duran Duran and to be a judge. 

 

Obviously that first one didn't pan out, but I did go to law school so I guess technically that second one is still a possibility.... 

[sassenach]

A zoo vet/keeper. I think that was a large measure just maternal instinct with no where to go. Once I started having kids, I had no interest in animals. What I wanted to do at 20 is still what I plan to do- get my RN.

[Truscifi]

Marine biologist. Until I started taking lab classes and realized I despise labwork. Love the field work though.

[Crimson Wife]

Something which also seems to include both science and kids.

And kind of a hybrid between teaching and medicine without the cons of those professions. SLP's get better pay and more autonomy than teachers and entering the profession doesn't require 4 years of med school plus 3-5 years in a grueling residency.

[EMS83]

A stay-at-home mom.  I went to college because I figured no one would actually want to marry me, so I was going to get a business degree and open a coffee shop.  Things turned out a tad differently...  I got my English degree 5 1/2 years later--married, an almost-homeowner, and 6 months pregnant with my second child.   :D

[NoseInABook]

A singer but seeing that it was probably not likely, I'd settle for being a veterinarian. ;) 

[Daria]

I wanted to be a neonatologist, but later decided that I like sleep too much for a residency and that I prefer longer term relationships with the people I work with. Special ed teacher has been perfect for me.

 

I think there's a lot of truth in the idea that you can tell a lot from a tween/teenage dream. I spend a lot of time with my student trying to get a vision for their future, and I tell parents and colleagues that while teenage dreams may be unrealistic, they are always "true" in that tell us about that child's touchstones, the things that matter the most.

 

So that student with an intellectual disability may never be a "dolphin trainer in Florida", but she absolutely can find a way to help animals as a job or a volunteer. She can also travel and see new places.

[Alice]

I wanted to be a doctor. I went through various stages of what kind of doctor, I think that might have been when I was thinking about plastic surgery (like for birth defects) because I had read a book about a woman plastic surgeon that I loved. I then seriously wanted to do neurology for a long time, starting in late high school or college because I became inspired by Oliver Sacks and others. 

 

I never really considered pediatrics until I went through med school, I think because everyone assumed that as a woman in medicine I would want to do peds or OB and I rebelled against that stereotype. Then I did pediatrics and loved it. 

 

I would have been a terrible plastic surgeon for many reasons and I ended up really disliking neurology as an everyday career option even though I still enjoy reading neurology types of books. 

[scoutingmom]

Aerospace Engineer in the Canadian Military. Would have preferred to be a snowbird (air demonstration team) and combat pilot... but at the time females couldn't and my eyesight also ruled it out.

 

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

[foxbridgeacademy]

I wanted to be in no particular order (that I can remember)

 

A Marine Biologist, I thought I'd work with Dolphins. I LOVE animals in theory. Day to day they drive me crazy.... 

An Architect, because I was always drawing floor plans.  I actually pursued this in a round about way

A History Professor, Because I loved history, again I sort of pursued this

Archivist at the Smithsonian, still my dream job.

 

I went to College and started out as a History major (Religion minor) until I met someone who had a degree in History working as an apartment manager's assistant  :glare: .

I changed my major to Interior Design and minored in Historical Preservation. But I didn't finish, so I ended up as a teacher to my own children and I much prefer Science to History any day. Unless there's an opening at the Smithsonian? (And yes I know they do Science too).

 

 

ETA: I forgot Archaeologist, although that went along with History Prof. because, you know, Indiana Jones.  I think I'd still like to be an Archaeologist mostly because I like digging in the dirt, sorting through and classifying random things, maybe I should just be a pre-school teacher.

Edited May 8, 2016 by foxbridgeacademy

[mumto2]

A pathologist, way too much Quincy.

[creekland]

A pathologist, way too much Quincy.

 

Loved Quincy and still do, but it's difficult to find since it's no longer on Netflix and I never see it on the other oldie channels we get!

 

Can't say it ever occurred to me to want to do his job though.  Yuck!  More power to those who can do his job - esp if they always get the tricky ones right!

 

Hubby would love his boat...

[OhanaBee]

At that age I would have told you I wanted to be a teacher and a mom.  Then I took an aptitude test in high school and was told I would make a very good forest ranger.  Yep - sign me up!!  That did NOT go over well with my parents [Mom, specifically] who made it her mission to talk me out of it.  She also talked me out of the working for the FBI one summer, by letting me know I could not use the family car unless I worked in the Valley, doing something else [FBI office was in Westwood - an hour away].

 

Though I would have only been doing go-fer work, I have always wondered if that summer job might have led to bigger and more exciting things.... :coolgleamA:

 

I still think I would make a good forest ranger.

[luuknam]

The author suggested thinking about what you wanted to be at 15, apparently when it was more likely to be a choice based on interests and not other things.

 

I dunno. At 15 I was in 11th grade, and had narrowed down what I wanted to major in based on what I could potentially do as a hobby, vs what I wouldn't be able to do as a hobby, so, no, at 15 it was a choice based on other things more than on what I was interested in. I was like, well, I'm not going to buy an electron microscope* etc, but I can e.g. write novels in my free time, so I'll major in biomedical science/engineering. Part of it was that I was interested in a LOT of things (all over the place, not even a particular cluster of similar things), so I had to do something to narrow things down. I actually tried to apply to a college biomedical/lab science program when I was 14 at the end of 10th grade because I had had enough of secondary school, but it turned out they'd changed the rules just a couple of years prior (it used to be that if you finished 10th grade of the pre-university program you could go to college, and then if you finished freshman year of college you could transfer to university as long as you majored in a similar thing). I think it probably would've been a good thing if I had been able to go to college after 10th grade, and then possibly transfer to university after a year if I'd wanted to, but oh well.

 

Instead, I finished high school, did a year as an exchange student in Thailand, basically doing stuff like Thai music (kaen), Thai dance, calligraphy, drawing, Thai language, Thai sword-fighting, etc. Then, I double-majored in biomedical science/engineering and AI for one year (goal of working in neuroprosthetics), met my wife online, dropped out to move to Texas, then majored in electrical engineering with a minor in neuroscience, dropped out, became a truck driver for a while, tried majoring in business administration at a CC for a bit (figured some knowledge of that would be useful regardless of what I ended up doing), then switched to library science (goal of wanting the science/engineering reference librarian at an academic library), and ended up almost finishing but not quite thanks to a move to the other side of the country. A couple of years ago I was thinking I wanted to do biostatistics** when I grow up, currently thinking maybe plain statistics and/or mathematical modeling.

 

Okay, huge step back, to 12-14 - since you wanted that as well. At 12 I was on the tail end of wanting to be a medical examiner (too much Robin Cook). I realized by then that you need to go through medical school for that, which is just too much for that. Sorry, but I'm not going to go through sleep deprivation residencies (what on earth is up with that? - science is plenty clear that you shouldn't drive under those circumstances, why should you play doctor while sleep deprived and still learning to be doctor?) to be able to be a medical examiner. I also thought of epidemiology. Just, biomedical stuff in general. I also wanted to be an author (but, in my spare time, because you need a day job, ya know).

 

Who knows. Maybe some day I'll write a book.

 

*Actually, it's amazing what stuff (electron microscope, etc) you can buy used for under $10k now to play around with - but, I'm more than twice as old now.

** Disillusionment with biomedical research was one of the things that did me in when I was younger - it gets really tiring when you read through a biomedical research paper and you can turn it into swiss cheese because they failed to control for, oh, all the obvious things.

[LisaKinVA]

I was firmly committed to music education at that point in time.  I had taught myself basic piano, then took lessons, started flute in 3rd grade (about 10), and by 14 (8th grade) had also taught myself the Clarinet (I also played the piccolo).  By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I had added Bassoon, Oboe, Tenor Sax, and two percussion instruments (bass drum and bells/xylaphone).  I also sang in the church high school choir, made the (public) high school show choir, and was a junior in high school when communications and political science came to the forefront of my career choice (I was also homeschooled my junior year, and one of the losses at the time was music).  With the state off music education in the nation, I probably made the correct career choice.  

 

I did reach out to a former band teacher (one who constantly pushed us, and encouraged us to push ourselves, one who believed we could be better than the average), he's still teaching in CA today.  He also said I probably made the right decision to not pursue music ed, but that he was glad he had been such an strong influence in my life, and my love for music.

 

One of my biggest regrets with regards to homeschooling is our inability to afford music for our kids.  They've all participate in choir, hand bells, and we have a piano, but not one of my kids can play an instrument well.  Living here in Italy, they have the opportunity, but thus far, no one has desired to take it.

[Donna]

Pediatrician.

 

At 16, I met a physical therapist and instantly changed my mind...didn't go too far though...I do work at a pediatric PT.

[Zinnia]

A midwife or a homeschooling mom. I have done both, both harder than my 12 year old self imagined them to be. ;)

Edited May 8, 2016 by Zinnia

[nobeatenpath]

When I was 12 either an opera singer, neurosurgeon or librarian.

 

Didn't become any of those.

[rebcoola]

Pro soccer player I came relatively close but size and injuries worked together to stop me,  At an average of 10,000 a yr with littlestability on some level I didn't miss out on much

Edited May 9, 2016 by rebcoola

[Tsuga]

Everyone said I should be a lawyer or a teacher. I hated dealing with people and had wanted to be an astronomer up until the Challenger explosion (when I was 8). At that age, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I just wanted people to stop asking.

[StaceyinLA]

I honestly always wanted to be a mom and have a lot of children. I studied forensic anthropology in college because I did wind up with a real interest in being a coroner as I got a little older (I know - fun stuff), but when I wound up pregnant not long after my first dh and I got married, I quit college and stayed home. After having kids, there was never a time when I really felt like I could "handle" being a coroner just from the emotional aspect. 

 

Sometimes I think of going back to school, but I would definitely change my major! ;-p

Edited May 9, 2016 by StaceyinLA

[Emba]

Around 12 - bush pilot (we'd just been on a vacation to Alaska)

 

Around 14 - kindergarten or first grade teacher

 

Of the two, I'd probably make a better bush pilot than kindergarten teacher. :)

 

And all along I planned on being an author as well.