I�d bet if you asked 1000, 8-12 year olds what they wanted to do for a living, the numbers of them that want to be a YouTube star, play video games or something else that wasn�t around 10 years ago would be shocking. What say you?

I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was that age. I probably would�ve said professional athlete. It doesn�t matter when you�re 12.

My youngest is 18, will be going to college in the fall. She wants to build robots for NASA. She will be majoring in robotic engineering. When she was 10-12, she wanted to be a veterinarian. She has had all A's through High school with all advanced classes and has been taking a college class per semester the last two years of high school.


My oldest is 21. When she was 10-12, she wanted to be an artist. She now works at Wal-Mart.

My almost 21 year old Eagle Scout son Wyatt in the 7th grade wanted to be an Environmental Engineer, he also wanted to be an Army Ranger or a Navy Seal. In 8th grade he shared with us that next year instead of going to JJ Pearce High school he wanted to go to Richardson for their Magnet programs in Environmental Science to further his Engineering dream, he also wanted to go to Texas A&M for his engineering pursuit. When he graduated high school he was accepted to A&M Blinn (he chased girls to much in high school ).
He then decided he wanted to serve his country first then get his degree. He joined the Navy and was accepted into their Nuclear Engineering program, halfway through boot camp he decided Advanced Electronics was the ticket. He is stationed aboard the USS Ashland an Amphibious Assault ship stationed in Sasebo, Japan. He plans on making a career out of the Navy and will apply to attend the Naval Academy.

My almost 19 year old daughter Victoria never had a clue what she wanted to be but knew she wanted to go to a college by the beach, she is my beach bum buddy She graduated almost a year early from high school November 8th 2017 and applied to 3 colleges.
University of Tampa, Chapman University and TCU (no beach but only school close to home she would consider). She was accepted for the 2018 spring semester at all 3 with Dean and other scholarships and grants
She chose Chapman University in California and has a 4.0 GPA and still no clue what she wants to be when she grows up.
We are blessed.

We may grow old, but there is no requirement to act our age. We only get one trip in life, it may end tomorrow, enjoy everyday as if it is your last.

I think this is common these days. I'm not sure why people go to college w/no plan of their career. I think a lot do it because they're all told "you're going to college" so they do. That or so they can postpone real life a little longer. It's probably why so many people have degrees but don't have jobs. They got a common degree that everybody & their brother has (or some off the wall useless degree) & it offers nothing to a job except a piece of paper on the wall.

I wouldn�t disagree with what you said. But at that age, things will likely change for them.

When I was that age, I wasn�t for sure what I wanted to do. Veterinarian was on the list. I was dam sure I didn�t want to do what my dad did....we had breeder hen houses, gathered about 10k eggs a day. By high school I was sure about being a vet. I got my [censored] in gear, got some scholarships and got to college. Managed to keep my grades up and here I am.

Funny side note, I remember being a kid and reading Louis L�amour and similar books and telling my parents I wanted to move out west. Never thought about much in college til I took a job in TX. Guess I did exactly what I told my parents I wanted to do. Lol

I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

My 3 year old wants to be a doctor.... But I am talking her out of it and trying to get her to go into actuarial science.

That does happen often to kids with no direction or ambition.

My daughters philosophy is she will get a degree in business and marketing then find a job that pays her a bunch of money until she figures out what she really wants to do in life. She has zero plans of living with mommy and daddy as a matter of fact she wants to take care of us in our golden years
I applaud he for taking 18 hours per semester, taking advantage of accelerated programs to graduate early. Victoria chose to go back on January 1st to attend a program that started January 2nd and allows her to earn additional credit hours before the regular Spring semester starts and the college pays for it.

So it is not that important if a kid does not know what career they want at that early age, what is important is they have the drive to learn and succeed in whatever endeavor they choose

Toughest thing I ever did was trying to figure out what the kids where going to do. I went to college to party/ wildlife biologists. Far from parents as money would allow, I now am fire coordinator ( 20 years), with a degree in birds. My oldest son is attending Texas Tech ( gradate next Spring, I hope $$$$$$) with an engineering degree. Youngest quit college, ousted in military, but feel in love with Job Corp. He his now working on a vocational degree as a electrician. We learned to give a enough rope to feel it tighten up, but not enough to hang themselves and have a bucket that you and wife can both kick. There cheap at the dollar store.. Just guide them in away they can succeed. FYI for those that college is not a an option Look at job corp. It your tax dollars well spent.

When his kindergarten teacher asked my 4 year old grandson what he wanted to be , His answer was Zombie. When he was informed that was not
a profession , He said " Mayor " kind of the same thing in my book

MO

My niece decided today not to go to college. She�s an A student and had a bunch of college classes already knocked out. She�s going to cosmetology school instead. I think it�s a wise choice.

I wanted to be an oilfield salesman since I was a little kid. I�ve been living the dream the last 25 years. It�s not near as fun as it once was though. The free hunting and fishing trips are few and far between anymore.

My son wants to be an Orthodontist

Not even asking my 3, 4 , and 12 yr old kids that question. I'll let them enjoy life and they'll make their decision soon enough

if you don't know what you want to specialize in, college still is not a waste. You can make lifelong friendships and connections and learn to grow up. Plus the degree gets you in the door.

My youngest son graduated with a degree in basket weaving - jk. Great athlete so he wanted something in sports. We told him hime we didn't care what he wanted to do but to just graduate with all C's if he had to but just get out of school. He moves to Austin from Washington State university and his degree gets him into an IT reselling company as an inside support rep. His social skills allows him to navigate the corporate environment and people like him. He started at $36k per year with some commission. A couple years in he moved to straight commission (his choice). 4 years in and we are playing golf and he tells me how much he makes and I about pass out. 5 yrs in he's vested in his 401 and the companies contributions and quits because he doesn't like it anymore and he and his wife are forming a real estate team in the Austin area so that they can live life on their terms.

He went from a clueless teenager to a soon to be expecting dad living in a gated community with a plan for his future all because he had a degree and was able to get a start somewhere.

My oldest tried community college but when we say him doing nothing but cheating off of his girlfriend we said we weren't going to pony up any more tuition money. Degree wasn't going to do him any good. Through someone on this forum, he got his start in the cabling industry and has worked his way up and earned a skill that will serve him for the rest of his life. He did it the hard way.

My middle daughter graduated with a degree in nursing - could not get into nursing school. Got into medical insurance instead - she's a case manager for special cases. Earns $50k right out of college and no way could be doing that or have that job without a degree. Her and her boyfriend bought a house in Ybor City, old part of town in Tampa FL. They are buying their second house in Ybor this month and leasing it out - she's 23 yrs old. She also does a side gig with hair care sales and earned a $2k bonus - I told her to go buy a new car. She says dad, I'm going to take that money and pay off my last Visa card and put the other part of it to have their new property painted. A new car can wait till next year she says to the guy who just bought two new Dodge Rams this year.

Wish I had my kids smarts sometimes.

I know of a 23 year old dude playing fortnite battle royal and going to the gym every day with no diploma nor a job.
His snowflake parents are proud of him, cause he is such a handsome good boy.
Lmfao

Good advice! Be who you want to be, the "what" will come sure enough.

I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was 12 years old. On graduation day I still had no idea what I was gonna do but a outside sales rep or advertising account exec. Sounded good. I had horrid grades and no money so I enrolled in community college because the people that had never gone to college themselves ( my parents ) said I needed to. Big waste of time and money. Dropped out after a few semesters and had some crappy menial jobs. Cousin of mine asked if I wanted a job staining decks and porches. Said I could make $100/day, which at seemed like all the money in the world to a 18 year old who was borderline homeless. Did that for a year or so and got tired of the inner office B.S and went back to school. Started doing side jobs to make a few bucks then hired a guy to do jobs while I was in school and dropped out again after running a business from the school parking lot for 3 months.

I�ll save you the boring details but I ran a paint and stain company for about 5 years, 2008 hit me hard and most of the companies I had contracts with went belly up. Got my real estate license and struggled thru �the Great Recession � but came out on the other side

Life isn�t always easy for everyone....for some people it is, for some it isn�t. Some times is a result of poor choices sometimes it isn�t. Not knowing what person wants to do at 12,15 or 18 years old career wise doesn�t mean a thing.

I�ve been very blessed in my career thus far, but I had no earthly idea thst I would be doing what I do when I walked out the school door 15 years ago after taking my last final

Nothing but turn into worthless phone zombies and smartazzes. My girlfriends 14 yr old punk dont sleep, dont do his school work, he minipulates girls to do his school work. Stays up all night on the phone and is a grumpy azzz because he dont sleep because up on phone till 6am then sleeps one hour. Thinks he is gonna walk on to a MLB team and dont even play or practice. The country is doomed. If the punk goes outside he gets in trouble because he thinks he needs to act out like online insane azzjacks. He goes to friends and gets banned from their houses by the parents. But hey!, He thinks he's the smartest.

^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^^
My son wanted to go into the USAF from as young as I can remember. He even did USAF ROTC all 4 years in high school. However, God must have other plans because he started getting migraines in middle school and it was a disqualifier as long as he had to take medicine to control them.
He will be 22 in two weeks and works for Apple customer service and loves it. Strange thing is that he has not been on migraine meds for almost two years.

My daughter is 20, loves to cook and wanted to be a chef when she was young. Up until 12th grade she still had that goal. We were looking at culinary colleges and such. Then one day she said she wanted to be an elementary school teacher.
She choose Sam Houston and is now a junior. Since entering college she has not waivered and begins student teaching this semester.

Have you tried talking with him instead of bashing him on a Internet forum?

Maybe he�s having a hard time because he is a teenager and his mom has a boyfriend that isn�t his dad and he doesent know how to process it

He probably needs a encouraging male figure in his life not someone who is gonna just trash him

Its not a bad idea if your good and know how to talk to/with people... the way it pays and how the job works it can be a very steady income.... most do it part time while still working and move to full time if it starts working out..... the ones that have the most success do I mean.


Much less school and upfront cost go into it.... than going to school for 4 years and having trouble finding a 35k/yr job.... Its a real career job in entertainment these days.


I told my kids they need to decide on a trade and go to a tech school for it..... It makes no sense to me for someone to make the attempt for a bachelors anymore.

Really though think about it.... if your halfway decent and know how to entertain just a bit... with the internet is huge as it is all you need is 500 people to sub to your page... $5/month for something back like viewer games etc... this is 30k/year not including donations that regularly happen during these streams..... its a pretty smart way to earn a living if your smart about it

It�s really no different than any other type of entertainment. Personally I think reality shows, YouTube stars, etc. are dumb but apparently there are a lot of dumb people in the world that fuels the need for reality shows and YouTube stars and kudos to those capitalizing on it

Reality shows i agree I hate them.... the main thing im talking about is the people that do this live... and have a daily schedule.... most see it and think this is stupid but then they turn around a pay a monthly bill for pandora or vudu or xm radio... all in the same

At that age I wanted to be an engineer. Physics killed that dream in college and im pretty confident my physics teacher had something to do with that. At that point I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I defaulted to what my dad does, im an appraiser.

I wish I would have moved to something in the medical field, mechanic, or some kind of service like electrician, plumber, etc. If doing it again single at the time I would have looked more toward the military. Reason I didn't is I was raised not to quit things and I started college so it made since to finish.

Lord only knows what my children will want to do, they are 4 and 9 months.

My 6 yr old son has gone between Army, Cop, and Game Warden. Who knows what he will decide on when he is older but I�ll bet you money it won�t be any of the stuff you suggested.

Can't be any worse than wanting to be a garbage truck driver. That's what I wanted to be from age 3-7 or so. Imagine my parents pride when I told everyone I met I was going to be the garbage man.

Heck yeah, they only work on Tuesday and Thursday.

I have a book that I make my kid write in a couple of times a year. Basically I have them write what their favorite thing is right now, where they want to live when they get older, and what they want to do for a living. They have to write the new page before they read the old pages. I have been doing this since they were about 7. The answers are so funny. Off the top of my head I remember one of my sons wanted to be a sign language teacher. That was the summer he taught himself sign language.

In one of my boys year books from when he was in 6th grade they had a section on what you want to be when you grow up. They gave the kid small chalk board and a piece of chalk. They wrote the answer and then the picture was taken. My oldest son said "Goat Farmer".

You're Nav's dad?

In first or second grade my brother told his teacher he wanted to be a chicken catcher when he grew up. As in on the crew they send out to catch birds in commercial houses to go to market.

He was a firefighter/medic and now builds houses full time.

My daughter wanted to be an actress but settled for flight attendant for Jet Blue.

Your talking about reasoning with an azz that walks on top of peoples cars. Puts his shoe prints on the inside windshield too. More of a beat down is appropriat. Skipping reasoning with a brick.

Your posts never disappoint.

That�s funny

Shoulda told folks you wanna be in the "Refuse Collection Business". (It helps to say it with a NYC Italian accent.) They may not of respected you, but by golly they would have feared you (and your dad).

My son is going into HS next year. He went to the High School and College Center today to tour and talk to counselors, we went to orientation tonight. Finding out that you can basically come out of HS with any number of certs, an associates degree in some fields I asked him what he had his mind on. He said that EMT/Paramedic seemed interesting. He can graduate HS as an EMT and go straight into the field....

I�m letting my kid be a kid with some structure. What I am not doing is forcing sports down his throat like the rest of the local sheep

Only one of my three had any ideas that I can remember when they were young, all have college degrees.
Oldest son wanted to be an airline pilot, he has electrical engineering degree and is working as an aerospace electrical engineer up in the north east.
His younger brother (twins) has a business degree and works in IT for a local school district.
Their sister has a psychology degree and works at a teaching hospital in medical billing.

I have 5 daughters who changed their life goals like socks as they grew up. Lofty goals were gradually fine tuned. All of them (27 to 45) ended up with degrees and got solid paying career jobs. And they all eventually left those jobs.

Three, to start their own company and two to be stay at home Mom's because of how they see public schools indoctrinating their kids. None of them are doing anything remotely close to where they started.

I saw it as my job to help them get their degree's so that education would not become "the" limiting factor.
I saw it as their job to build a happy life.

We are exceedingly proud of each, and the choices that they have made.

A man has to have his dreams. My neighbor is a goat farmer. He does alright.

No sooner than I finished typing, a story came on about goats on the ' Newshour'. Weird.

I'm 37 and would make slime videos in a heartbeat if I could pull down the kinda skrill some YouTubers do. My 6 yesr old watches "Sis vs Bro" they pull in $3.5M a year.

I heard someone found my dad??

Well considering I read a survey that said 55% of high school graduates think they will be millionaires, they had better figure something out

I just had the 6th kid in year (18 year old this time) tell me that he wanted to be a gamer. Everyone give stories of a guy that makes a million a year, they must all have read about the same guy.

My oldest who is now 9 wants to be an artist. When she was 5 she wanted to be a Shepard...lol

She's very intelligent. She reads constantly and at levels way higher than her age. She will be able to do whatever she wants and is very motivated to do her best in every thing she does.


My youngest isn't sure what she wants to be. She loves the outdoors, bugs and playing. She's hard headed and competitive. She's probably going to be a decent athlete. She is also a very bright kid but my oldest is just kind of on another level from just about everyone her age.



I always said I'd be a biologist of some kind as a kid.

I went to college not really knowing what i wanted to do but decided i might like being a science teacher and coach. That was a terrible idea. I was making $40k out of school but putting in 100 hrs a week.

The only thing I got out of college besides debt and some fun stories was that I met my wife of 11 years now. So I guess it was worth it!

I did two years as a coach and decided that was enough.

I became a firefighter and started out at about $42k and 8 years later I'll make close to $70k this year. I know that's not a ton but the schedule is awesome and it helps that my wife is a Nurse Practitioner.


It would have been nice to start out knowing what I wanted to do.

Looking back it all worked out and if I hadn't gone to college I wouldn't have met my wife. If i hadn't met my wife I probably wouldn't have ever thought about the fire service (her dad was a FF). Then I wouldn't have the best job on the planet. I enjoy going to work every time I go.

Sometimes kids know exactly what they want to do. My daughter at four years old said she wanted to be a cop later it changed to a forensic scientist until one day in chemistry she decided she didn't want to spend her life in a lab. She was on an ROTC scholarship so when she graduated she was hoping for Military Police but got Field Artillery instead. About the time she was finishing her commitment, the Army had come out with a Commissioned Officer to CID Warrant Officer program, she's now a CID Special Agent and absolutely loves her job.

My oldest had a goal of being a dermatologist and my younger daughter a dentist.

My oldest completed her biology degree but decided not to pursue medical school. My younger daughter switched majors after her freshman year to a business accounting and management degree.

They both work for GE Health Care selling service agreements to hospitals and clinics.

150k a year with company car, credit card for gas and lunches with great 401k and health insurance.

I'm in my early 30s so I consider myself still fairly young. Since I was little, I wanted to be a developer. First semester of college taking Java ruined that for me. Switched to business administration with a focus on MIS. Took an entrepreneurship class and loved it. Started a business several years ago with a buddy in software development.

Having a business gave me the flexibility of spending more time outdoors and acquiring a piece of property. Bought a tractor last year - can't think of anything I'd rather do than ride and spend time on the tractor. Now... my dream is to become a farmer

advice, GO FOR THE MONEY