What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Ahh the question we all had to deal with when we were our child’s age and one we might still ask today.

Here’s the thing Mom and Dad, this question rephrased “Who do you want to be when you grow up” can make your parenting so much easier and your child so much safer.

Let me explain.

I’m so excited to introduce Christina Ellis. Christina is an executive and high performance coach and while working with entrepreneurs, she realized that they hadn’t developed the leadership and planning skills as teens that they needed as adults.

Moreover, she discovered that, for many, what they were doing as adults had nothing to do with what they wanted to do when they were younger.

They lost whatever it was they were passionate about somewhere along their journey.

So… What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up

Parents and grandparents ask this question with the best of intentions.

Unfortunately, there are a number of problems with the question.

For starters, many kids don’t know what they want to do as a career when they’re adults. They’re still finding their path and it can add pressure to “pick a path” and stick to it.

Moreover, though, many kids feel this looming expectation to provide the “correct” answer. To pick something that’s socially acceptable. Do to what they’re “supposed” to do.

This question makes teens feel like they have to have their future all planned out and that it has to be an acceptable, realistic future.

I mean, let’s face it, can you imagine if an adult had asked a young Mark Zuckerberg what he wanted to do and his answer was, “I’d like to be the CEO of the largest social media platform in the world.”

Mark did that! But if he had stated that as his future goal at the age of 13, few (if any) adults would have taken it seriously. It wouldn’t be “realistic.”

The question, inevitably, can create tunnel vision.

So what can you ask instead?

Here are a few great alternatives:

• What do you want to do/accomplish when you grow up?
• What are you passionate about?
• What makes you happy?

If your child knows that he or she loves working with animals, that’s a huge step towards finding what he or she is passionate about for a future career. There are so many things you can do with that (outside of being a veterinarian or a vet tech).

And because technology is always changing, new jobs could exist in five or 10 years that don’t even exist today. So why limit yourself?

By identifying what drives you, your North Star, you can start exploring what career options are available or just learning about the industry you’re interested in. You can identify different ways you can follow that passion (because there are typically multiple ways to accomplish the same goal, if you know your passion).

Why We Should Stop Asking, ‘What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up’

While parents and other adults have the best of intentions, this question can create tunnel vision and make kids feel like they need to find a career that’s “acceptable” and “realistic.”

A few alternatives to the question are:

• What do you want to do/accomplish when you grow up?
• What are you passionate about?
• What makes you happy?

Is there any question that you ask your kids as an alternative to “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Share it with us in the comments below and we’ll add it to the list!