How To Help Your Child Choose A Career

As parents, we only ever want the best for our children. Unfortunately, we also believe we know exactly what's best for our children and often, it's without asking the children what they would like to do. Children are not our puppets, and they're not our chance to "get it right." We cannot live our dreams through our children, and it's tough not to live vicariously through them! Children have their own goals and desires, and we need to cherish them and nourish those dreams - not push ours onto them.

The thing is, children will come and ask for help. As little ones, they'll tell you that they have desires and dreams of becoming explorers, adventurers, nurses, and doctors. They'll talk about saving the world as a superhero and achieving the impossible. However, they'll hit their teens, and their real interests come through. Some kids will grow up and want to become astronauts, Googling all that they can about going to space school and put their heads into their education to do something real and meaningful. Others will stick on that path of medicine, aiming to be doctors. They'll learn about the different medicinal avenues that they could take, and they'll quickly learn that there are types of social workers to choose to become. It's a massive world of career choices, and your teenager is about to face that world for the first time. The best thing that you could do is help them.

There are plenty of ways that you can help your teenager to navigate the decisions they make to further their education and choose a career to start their lives with. Below, we've got some helpful tips to enable you to assist them in navigating this decision.

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Tip 1: Remember, They're Not You

Let's keep in mind one important rule - your child is not you. Helping them to navigate which career to choose means asking them what they are interested in and giving them the tools to achieve it. If you want your child to be a doctor, but they want to be an artist, swallow your dreams for them and look at everything possible to be a successful artist. You can really get into your child's head and support them if you just take a moment to listen to what they want. You have raised a unique and brilliant human being; let them discover and explore the things that make them who they are. They could surprise you with their exceptional talents!

Tip 2: Help Them To Discover Their Strengths

Many teenagers go through a mini-crisis between the ages of 14-16. This is because they are still discovering who they are and what they want from life. If you honor their discovery of themselves, you're going to find that they have a considerable number of strengths lying beneath their teenage angst. It's up to you to ensure that you bring the best out of them, and assess their behavior and mood and discover their talents. If you want to help them accurately determine who they are, take them to a career counselor. 

You'll be shocked at how helpful it can be to have an impartial person come and talk to your teenager about their hopes and dreams. Careers counselors also have insider knowledge of the industries and schools in which they may be interested. They can brainstorm with your teenagers to help them get the best future. If you can understand your child's strengths, you can help them to channel them into the best career for an excellent start in life.

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Tip 3: Offer Opportunities

Exposing your child to as many opportunities in what they are interested as possible is going to help them out. Expose them to nature and to science, to museums and animals. Give them as many chances to learn what they love, and see what really piques their interest. If there is something that they show excitement towards, embrace it! Let them know that you are there for them, and you will support their choices. Children need as much support from their parents as possible. You can be their first support and their biggest champion if you ensure they have enough opportunities in life. Most of the time, a specific career is chosen based on the chances that your child had before them.

Tip 4: Be The Example

You want to show your children that they can have the best possible career, and in doing that, you need to show them that you have one, too. You cannot show them how to have a fantastic job if you're not setting that example. Children often follow in their parents' footsteps, so it's up to you to show off to them how it's done. Their future will depend on you and your example, so the only question you really need to ask yourself is: are you ready to be that role model they need?

The time is now to set the best possible example and cheerlead your children all the way to their career goals. Life is messy, but children who have steady, open, and happy parents are children who are going to thrive. If you're not showing your children the good things that they could have, what are you doing? You are their person, and they admire you. Help them to grow and succeed, and you will have achieved something exceptional in your life while you help them to achieve the extraordinary in theirs. 

Parents, it's time to show your child how to live life well. Take them to career festivals and support them throughout their academic career, too. You'll only ever see positivity in your children if you know that they are achieving their dreams. Make their dreams a reality. You will have achieved having happy, healthy, and whole children living the life they've always dreamed of having. Your support is imperative: offer it now and watch them grow, and your pride will grow with them.