When they grow up

By Susan

One of the most common questions children get asked by adults is "What do you want to be when you grow up?" My children get asked this all of the time. As a matter of fact, my husband and I are guilty of asking them ourselves, many times.

My 7-year-old daughter's answer changes with the weather. Sometimes she wants to be a ballerina, other times she wants to be a nurse or a teacher. On a number of occasions she has stated that she wants to work on computers "like Mommy." That one always makes my heart swell.

My 5-year-old son, Teddy, on the other hand, always gives the same answer. He has always loved creatures. Anything that squirms, flies, crawls, buzzes or hops is his favorite 'pet.' His butterfly net is his prized possession. Last summer, we pulled out an old aquarium from our basement storage. It has a prime location in the backyard. It is full of rocks and twigs and grass. Whichever creature holds his current fascination calls this aquarium home.

Right now, we are in the middle of a cicada invasion. There is a virtually unlimited supply of these slow moving, red eyed, winged creatures. He announces the count with each new catch. We are currently housing 17 cicadas. He has names for all of them: Freddie, Freddie the 2nd, Freddie the 3rd -- all the way up to the 16th, and the last one is called SpongeBob. I don't know if the next one will be Freddie the 17th or SpongeBob the 2nd. My husband and I have a bet going on this. He also has no qualms about letting them crawl all over him.

So Teddy's answer to the age old question is always the same: "I want to be an Entomologist. They study bugs."

Do any of your children have this level of conviction about what they want to be? What do they usually answer when asked what they want to be when they grow up?

Comments

[Meg]

Currently, my three-year-old step-daughter, Darcy, insists that she wants to be "Cathe" when she grows up. Cathe is her biological mom, who was abusive physically, mentally, and emotionally to Darcy and her brother. I'm never quite sure how to respond to that one. I generally stick with, "You can't be Cathe - you're Darcy!"

[Robin]

Lillianna wants to work in pediatrics since her trip to the hospital a few weeks ago. She is unsure if she wants to be a doctor or nurse - Just pediatrics! That's ok with me.

I laugh because my sister always said when she grew up she wanted to work in a shoe store and work with a cash register giving change so she could say ,"Thank you and have a nice day." Now she runs a mortgage company with her boyfriend and she OWNS a million shoes.

[Jo]

What a cutie your son is! I have to give it to him, as I see a dead cicada and I scream like it's Jaws walking down the sidewalk ;) As for my little man, I can hardly wait to see what his interests are...as for me, I am still undecided! There's something to be said for that though...

[VJ]

Tony usually tells me that he wants to be whatever we are doing or passing. For example we were on Amtrak and Tony told me he wanted to be a conductor. Later, as we saw a police car with lights flashing go past us, Tony declaired he was going to be a police officer.

The kid's only five, so he has plenty of time to figure it all out.

[Tiff]

My daughter, like yours, changes like the weather when it comes to that question. Brave little boy you have there...yuck!

[Busy Mom]

Hey, I'm still working on what I want to be...

[andrea]

My five year old is going to be a farmer with 15 ponies, some chickens, but no pigs, "because they're stinky."

All her ponies are going to be named Rosepetal. I tried to explain that this might be confusing... to her, to the ponies, and to anyone visiting the farm, but she's adamant.

[Angie]

My nine year old daughter is the only one out of five that has always known what she wanted to be. Every since she could talk she has wanted to be an art teacher with twelve kids. I fear she might actually acheive that goal.

[Jessica]

I don't have kids yet, but my brother used to draw houses constantly. It first started w/legos and the incredible things he would build and then he would start drawing them, fantastic houses at age 7. He just graduated last year from Cooper Union, which is an architecture school that gives all of its student's free tuition. So I would encourage your son to pursue his dreams, if we could all be so lucky to know what we want to do w/our lives, and have such passion about it.

[Melissa]

I remember in Kindergarten answering this question with 'A babysitter.' A very lofty goal I reached at the ripe age of 13.

My daughter, at 5, is really pretty consistent about her desire to be a veterinarian. She loves animals and I catch her 'sneaking' the show 'Emergency Vets' on the animal channel.

My son at 3, by all appearances, plans to be an emotionally unstable man wearing diapers and using a binky.

[Elizabeth]

Just remembering from my own childhood -- my sister always knew that she was going to be a doctor when she grew up (she didn't change her mind til after graduating from college). I was never so certain about what I wanted to do.