Your
Middle Schooler
Help your middle schooler start thinking about careers
Are you concerned about how your kids are planning their future education path, or exploring their career options? The time to start talking about career choice is in middle school. Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Make a list of jobs that sound interesting to your child and then help them figure out what classes and skills are needed for those jobs.
- Encourage your child to read about jobs at the library and talk to friends and family about what they do for a living.
- Parents can also help children choose careers by pointing out their skills and talents, and how they may want to use them in a job. A kid who is good with animals might be a veterinarian or work at the zoo. A video-game wizard may enjoy computer programming; one who negotiates rifts on the playground might consider law.
- Talk with your kids about what’s important to them. For example ask: Do you want to make a lot of money? Make a difference in the world? Do you want to work in an office or outside? Alone or with other people?
- Be careful about bad-mouthing jobs, even your own, that may interest your child, or pushing careers that the child doesn't have the talent for.
- Assure your child that it's ok not to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They have plenty of time to figure it out.
- Expose children to all sorts of jobs; explain what training and school is required.
- Listen to what your child says about what they'd like to do and support their decision.
- When a child wonders, “Why should I go to college?'' parents can offer these reasons why:
- More opportunity. A college degree provides a wider range of jobs to choose from.
- More money. A person with a degree from a four-year college earns considerably more than a high school graduate.
Adapted from By Karina Bland/The Arizona Republic
Sunday, November 30, 2003
