Tuesday, August 28, 2012

When Do I Tell Them What To Be When They Grow Up

(Fast readers of my blog posts will notice this was totally re-written. Until now, all my posts have been first drafts. But this one just didn't feel quite right.)

I started out to be a sports writer. I covered high school sports for my hometown newspaper. It was awesome. I left that, worried I wouldn't make money at it. Ironically, I left to get a PhD in Political Science, which I subsequently left, worried I wouldn't make money at it.

Then I sold life insurance, and it sucked, and I couldn't figure out how I got there or how to get out of it (but if Northwestern Mutual calls, I still like their insurance!). Then I decided to just do something that paid the bills and was reasonably engaging, so I went to business school and got a good job.

Present satisfaction notwithstanding, my circuitous career path has given me much anxiety about steering my kids in the arena of making a living.

Meanwhile, if Madeline hears me explain one more time why I think she would make an excellent marketing manager for Disney, I think she's going to beat me to death with jewelry from Claire's.

Seriously, do I really have to let them discover this stuff on their own?

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