Kids and Careers
Since I have 2 degrees in nursing and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, I am hoping for something different for my kids.
I have an 8th grader who will graduate in May and then head on to high school.
In the midst of me trying to figure out, “How’d that happen?” I have realized that it might be a good time to encourage her to look at what kinds of things interest her, not only to help her decide her course work in high school, but, to look at the types of careers that are out there.
Fortunately, her school thinks so, too, and, she has an upcoming project on careers where she must find and interview someone working in a job that interests her. She will be interviewing a chef and a caterer.
I wish I had had a better idea of what types of jobs were out there, and, what they actually did when I was growing up. Now, we are fortunate that there are lots of resources on the Internet and in the community to help kids get an idea of what kinds of careers they can consider.
For example, Kids.gov has a good overview of career information for kids. It’s divided into information for grades k-5 and for grades 6-8 .
Older kids who are looking at volunteer work and learning general job skills might find CareerKids.com’s My First Resume builder useful.
Education World has a good summary of the skills kids need to prepare them for careers.
There are also community based programs such as Exchange City where kids can get first hand experience at types of jobs and gain some understanding of the workplace and related skills.
It’s never too early to talk with your child about their interests and explore potential careers that might match their desires and be in demand for the future.
Tags: ACT-Explore, Career and Kids, Education-World, Exchange-City, kids-and-careers, Kids.gov.-CareerKids.comRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Education, Preparing Kids For Careers
4 opinions for Kids and Careers
flybunny
Jan 9, 2008 at 8:52 am
These are great resources. I can’t wait to share them with the girls. My soon-to-be 6th grader has wanted to be a teacher since she was in 1st grade and I think she would be a great one but I also want her to make sure that she doesn’t overlook something else or at the very least, hope she marries well :) (I can say that because hubby is a teacher too!)
Heather
Jan 9, 2008 at 9:21 am
I highly recommend that she tries a Strong Interest Inventory test. I took one when I was in high school and although the results had me very skeptical at the time, I did end up in one of the careers that they said I would be happy in and I really am. It takes your answers to a large number of questions and ranks them with the answers gathered from people who are happy in their field and comes up with career possibilities that your personality is probably well-suited for. So, while I turned my nose up at foreign language teacher and librarian and college professor, those are now three strong interests (and one is a paid career).
Florinda
Jan 9, 2008 at 2:35 pm
“I have 2 degrees in nursing and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up…” Different degree, same quandary - I’m so glad it’s not just me!
Thanks for providing some great resources. My 13-year-old thinks she wants to be a zookeeper, but her dad is encouraging her to consider other careers too, and you’ve got some good things here for us to check out.
Good Parenting
Jan 12, 2008 at 9:41 am
Thanks, i found this post very useful.
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