Why do children's dreams about future professions differ in different countries? Why children should choose their own profession and how to help them with this What do children dream of becoming when they grow up

In fact, we will not find out now whether it is true that all the children of the Soviet Union dreamed of becoming astronauts, or if this is another propaganda myth about a wonderful life under a dictatorship. But someone must have dreamed. And, no matter what lovers of criticizing modern children may think, some of them still dream of becoming an astronaut. Or a doctor. Or an architect. Or a musician. Most children have a very specific idea of ​​what they want to be. And no matter what it is, no matter how far this profession is from the one that you yourself have outlined for your “I invest so much in it” child, you need to help him, and here's why.

1. Only 30% of adults work in a profession that they have dreamed of since childhood.

2. 60% of people who did not grow up to be the person they wanted to be say they are unhappy at work.

3. At the same time, 85% (think about it) of those who work as they dreamed of in childhood are happy.

4. 54% of teenagers taught by pragmatic adults say they are ready to sacrifice their dream and choose a profession that will bring them more money.

5. At the same time, only 13% of adults are ready to change their favorite job for an unloved, but high-income one.

What does it all mean? Well, firstly, of course, that, apparently, with age we still get smarter and understand that it is difficult to achieve happiness, and it is not entirely related to the amount of money. It's comforting.

But what is not very comforting is that most children are going to make a terrible mistake and choose what they want to be based on how much they will earn (and it’s not a fact that they will), and not on the basis of what occupation will make them happy.

These numbers are like a journey into your child's future. Maybe now is just the moment when you need to stop talking to him about money and start talking about who he wants, and should not work when he grows up.

So, how to make sure that the child becomes what he wants when he grows up.

1. Don't ruin his dreams

Your child dreams of a profession that, in your opinion, does not suit him at all. With such a profession, you will not earn a living. Or he dreams of something so powerful that you know for sure - he will never be able to become a doctor or a ballerina. Never. There is no chance. You, too, dreamed of many things as a child, but could not. So he can't either.

This is a rare moment when you, as a good parent, need to shut up. The conversation is not about you, but about your child. And the fact that you failed to fulfill your childhood dream does not mean that he will not succeed either.

Or maybe you secretly even want him to fail, so that against his background you don’t feel like such a loser?

If you are confident in yourself, you want him to succeed, but your motivation in this case is not so important. You do not need to tell your child that his dream does not suit you. As crazy as she is, it's your job to support her. Yes, 99 children out of 100 will not succeed, but one will succeed, and perhaps precisely because someone supported him in childhood. Maybe this one child is yours.

2. Make a plan of action

Help your child develop a detailed action plan. Do not limit yourself to official and meaningless “if you study well, you will become”. It won't. You know very well that the fives in the certificate do not at all guarantee your child the career he dreams of. You need a detailed plan.

What items are the most important? What should you pay special attention to? What additional courses should I take? What are the best universities and what do you need to get into them?

What additional skills that are completely unrelated to this profession can come in handy? Language? Which the?

Sport? What else do you need to know? What to learn? Who to talk to? And what is plan B if you can’t get into the best university? Is it worth going to a worse university, or is it better to work for a year and gain experience?

Whatever the plan, it's time to explain to the child that people very often do not succeed in their plans the first time, and this does not mean that you need to give up. This means you have to try again. Until victory.

3. Let him change his dream

Another problem with childhood dreams is that they often change with age, and a lot. And sometimes you exhale with relief, because the previous dream was unrealistic (or did not suit you), and sometimes, on the contrary, you tense up. And in families where the child is very supported and invests a lot in making the dream of a profession come true, children who for some reason change their minds are often afraid to tell their parents about it out of guilt - “Well, what am I going to say now that now I want to become an architect, not a doctor, when my mother has been paying me a chemistry tutor for five years.

Explain to the child that he has every right to change his mind at any stage. You won't think less of him because of it.

Do you allow yourself to change your mind for any reason, and from a 14-year-old person you demand that he ironically decide what he will do for the rest of his life?

Help him. It is your main responsibility to make him become who he is.

Every now and then one hears talk about the fact that children are different now, with different values ​​and priorities. Previously, all the boys wanted to be astronauts, but now they are eager to become a director.

Is it really? How have children's aspirations changed since our childhood? Let's talk about this topic!

Money

Now, you see, children begin to get acquainted with money much earlier and closer, or something. The shops have a huge assortment of goodies and toys, which you can get only for money. The logic is simple - the child wants to become the one who has a lot of them.

Previously, my daughter was sure that sellers and cashiers turned over almost millions. After all, they have a cash register with a lot of banknotes. Therefore, she really wanted to become a salesperson in some store.

I managed to explain to her the approximate structure of the store, in which the seller receives only his salary, and not all the money from the cash register. The daughter's ardor has diminished a little, but we haven't had fewer games in the store. Still, after all, all the money earned went to her wallet, and not to product suppliers.

Beauty industry

It is rare to find girls who are indifferent to hairstyles, makeup and clothes. I still remember how I cut dolls, and now my child is doing the same.

What has changed?

It seems to me that there have been no radical changes over the past few decades, and the professions of firefighters and doctors are still popular among children. I confess that I have never heard that someone wanted to become a businessman or director, as grandmothers on benches like to talk about it.

On the other hand, preschoolers are not yet familiar with the whole variety of professions and their features. Therefore, in order to decide on priorities, you will have to wait until at least adolescence.

While many professions are interesting to my daughter - she wants to make sweets, another time she wants to work in a toy store or be a singer. I try to tell as much as possible about the reverse side of many specialties. The fact that gymnasts are not only beautiful costumes, but also a lot of training, and the life of actresses is not only performances.

What do your children want to be? Do you think children's priorities have changed in recent years?

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Seven-year-old Anechka, when she grows up, dreams of becoming a model and earning as much as $505 a year, her little brother is planning a career as an international spy with an annual income of $500,000. Children are always sure that in the future they will do only things that are interesting to them, and they care little about the financial aspects of their "ideal" profession. However, growing up, they discover with chagrin that being a ballerina, writer or artist is a hard and not always well-paid job.

business magazine Forbes in October 2008, published the results of a survey of children aged 5 to 12 conducted in New York to find out what our world will be like in a quarter of a century if today's kids still listen to their hearts and master their dream profession and what are the will be their income.

Based on the data obtained, the experts made a disappointing conclusion: the most attractive professions for children turned out to be the lowest paid. For example, firefighters, who are preferred by 5 out of 33 six-year-olds, earn much less than doctors and astronauts.

In general, the survey showed that children have a very weak idea of ​​the value of money. The younger students, by the way, were sure that the head of the police department earns $29 a year, the lawyer - $59, and the dancers who suddenly got rich against this background - $165 in 12 months.

Respondents older than 11, on the contrary, showed a tendency to exaggerate the size of salaries. They believe that writers have an income of 210,000 dollars, and everyone's favorite conquerors of intergalactic space - 362,000 dollars. It becomes clear why parents so often indignantly scold their children with the phrase: "Do you think I'm printing money?".

However, the good news for the younger generation is that in today's labor market, more than ever, a large number of specialists of completely different profiles are in demand. Whatever the kid dreams of becoming, according to Forbes, this is feasible.

Astronaut

Although there is no more romantic occupation in the world than to surf the expanses of the Universe, and the astronauts themselves can be classified as representatives of rare professions, you cannot call space workers rich. Even in a country like the United States, they earn no more than $87,000 a year, which is far less than the contents of the compensation packages of American top managers.

Sportsman

The glory of Tiger Woods, the famous golfer and the wealthiest athlete in the world, who earned $ 100 million last year, haunts American children. What they don't realize is that "normal" athletes don't have promotional deals with Nike or Gatorade. Their annual incomes are usually $74,440.

Dancer

The popular television clones of "Dancing with the Stars" have created not only among Russian, but also among American kids the illusion that the profession of a dancer is prestigious and in demand. In fact, it is not so easy for both Western and domestic "dancers" to find a job, and their wages rarely reach the national average. Even working 40 hours, 52 weeks a year, the fees of American dancers barely exceed the $29,000 mark. The most talented of them can make $40,000 a year, but only by getting a job with a well-known agency.

Doctor

Years of study, constant processing and night shifts ... for what? An American General Practitioner is known to earn from $150,000 a year, while surgeons and anesthesiologists earn about $180,000 a year. There is no exact data on the income of Russian doctors: statistical sources operate with too different figures. According to some reports, the monthly revenue of the capital's "aibolites" is approximately 25,000 rubles, those of the Moscow region - 17,000 rubles. It is difficult to judge the picture in the regions: we can talk about 5,000 rubles or 15,000 rubles.

Fireman

Heroes who are ready to throw themselves into the fire, saving the lives of other people, alas, are not appreciated by either the Russian or the American state. In accordance with the new decree of the government of the Russian Federation, from December 1, 2008, the wages of firefighters with all additional payments will be at least 20,000 rubles per month. Their Western counterparts live on $42,000 a year

movie star

If the baby is not lucky enough to be born Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks or Nicole Kidman, who added $92 million, $74 million and $28 million respectively last year, he will have to live on only crumbs from the common Hollywood pie. "Simple" hard-working actors don't drive expensive cars, because you can't buy them for $45,000 a year.

Policeman/Cop

If law enforcement officials were paid more, the line between law and anarchy would be wider. In Russia, a police officer rarely receives more than 15,000 rubles a month from the state. In the US, a police officer on his $48,000 a year also doesn’t ride like a pancake in oil.

Singer

Yes, rapper Jay-Z made $83 million in a year, and Madonna made "only" $72 million. But is it conceivable for a boy who lives on tips for his songs with a guitar in a small cafe in a sleeping area? If all street singers in the homeland of modern pop music had the opportunity to work full-time for a whole year, they would earn $57,220.

Writer

Joanna Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, has undoubtedly managed to raise the prestige of her profession in the eyes of young readers ... as well as she was able to turn into a billionaire. Her "average" colleagues are content with fees of 58,000 dollars, and journalists - within 42,000 dollars.

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As children, we all dream a lot, thinking that we are subject to everything ... and even more. Each of us lived this wonderful time of dreams and fantasies, so such stories awaken a certain amount of nostalgia.

• As a child, I loved the series "Clone". Muslim women were especially admired. I thought that when I grow up, I get married and I will also always wear makeup, dressed up, dance belly dance for my husband. Increased. Got married. Yep, right now...

• In elementary school, they wrote an essay on the topic "What do you want to be when you grow up." In general, classmates wrote that they wanted to be policemen, hairdressers, doctors and astronauts, and I alone wrote that I wanted to become a cat. I just misunderstood the task, so I wrote about who I want to be in my next life.

• As a child, I was a sick child, so my mother and I often went to the clinic. I was just fascinated by the way the cleaners wash the floors. Vshuh-vshuh, turned the rag over, vshuh-vshuh ... Class. I wanted to be a cleaner.

• When I was little, I dreamed of becoming a salesman. After all, the sellers own the stores, which means they can take whatever they want there. That's what I thought until my mom told me the truth.

• I dreamed of becoming a train. Not a driver, but a train. I have always been fascinated by the way he dignifiedly drove up to the people waiting for him on the platform. The dream never came true.

• As a child, I wanted to become Dima Malikov. No kidding.

• In her school years, she was very jealous of her parents, because in the evenings they did not need to do any homework. Went to work during the day, and mind your own business the rest of the time. I dreamed that when I grew up, I would do the same. Now I'm 25. I come home from work and do nothing. The future has arrived!

• My younger brother dreamed of becoming a squid. It actually meant painter.

And as a child, I wanted to become a girl of easy virtue. I remember one neighbor who was so beautiful that I can’t even describe. When she drove up to the entrance, all the girls from the yard ran to look at her. She gave clothes to older girls, and she gave us nail polishes. She was unusual, standing out from the crowds of other girls. The street grannies always said the typical insulting phrase when they saw her. And then I decided that I would be like her - a girl of easy virtue. Of course, then I said it in a more rude form, just like grannies from a bench. My parents even had a cassette recording from a conversation with a school psychologist when I was accepted into the 1st grade. I’m sitting there so smartly dressed, and to the question of what I want to become when I grow up, I proudly answer that I will become “sh ...”! Mom was in shock, dad sat giggling, and I could not understand their reaction, they should have been proud of me.