What Do You Want To Become Once You Grow Up

A very cliche question generally asked by parents and relatives of a young kid – What do you want to become when you grow up – Musician, Rockstar, NASA scientist, Kathak Dancer, Movie Star, Cricketer, Footballer and so on.

Imagine what’s going on in the kid’s mind when he is deciding about his future with his limited knowledge about the world. Kids, whose life revolves around their parents, neighbourhood friends and school, books and television,who are yet to understand most of the things of the world; are already burdened with such a tough question.

Kids who are small and not yet well versed with the wonderful world of internet and in turn massive information associated with it. How can they at such a young age decide his future then?

We are what we think we are capable of. If we limit our kids in the beginning of life itself, how we are going to make our kids imagine that they can accomplish a lot more.

The main disadvantage of asking this very simple question to kids is that at a young age kids blindly trust their parents and their knowledge. If parents say that becoming a rockstar is the best thing that can happen to you, they will really believe so and will try their level best to become one, without a thought about whether they actually like it or not. They will not look for 100 other options present, which may genuinely interest them. Also, since this is not of real interest to them, they will not be focused and chances of acquiring success are reduced.

If every kid is forced to decide his profession in the beginning itself, how are we going to have generation of innovators?

Who would have thought you can buy things at the click of the mouse, without even going to those fancy shopping malls?

Who would have thought that social media will become such a huge part of our life. Most of us start our day by checking Facebook which is Mark Zuckerberg’s innovation.

Whatsapp has brought people closer in a way never perceived before. It’s easy, it’s cheap and it’s very cool too. If Brian Acton’s and Jan Koum’s parents would have asked the same question and confined them to their preconceived occupations, we wouldn’t be using Whatsapp now.

I don’t want to lay a definitive path in front of my kids for them to walk with ease in the beginning and fall down later. I want them to enjoy the journey and take their own decisions. I am always  there to fuel their passion, but not to restrict them to follow a particular thing for their entire life. They have the full right to change their chosen path at any point in life. If a child enjoys cricket, but feels bored after playing 10-20 games, then definitely cricket is not something that he should take up as a career.

Why to burden little shoulders with the pressure of choosing their careers at an early age? Let them enjoy a plethora of activities, get a feel of them all, enjoy their childhood and keep aside worries of the future.

Rashmi Sehgal is the mother of two adorable kids, 4 and 1-year-old fondly known as Angel and Lil prince on her blog. She wears the dual hat of mother and IT Professional who juggles between work and kids trying to maintain balance between both worlds . She is a voracious reader , avid blogger , Shopaholic, love to experiment different way of learning and unlearning things with her daughter and take pleasure in reading books to her daughter. She writes at rashworld.wordpress.com