Although I primarily would label myself as a stay-at-home mom, I actually have another job. The job I have is one I didn’t even know existed when I was in college, let alone in high school.

As a matter-of-fact, I didn’t know about a lot of career choices in high school, thinking ahead to what might be best for me and my future. I suspect a lot of that is because I just wasn’t exposed to many career choices.

Sure, we were told in high school that going to college was an optimal goal, but there was never much of a push for us to determine the direction we should go in once we got there.

Without much of a plan or idea of the various careers out there, and feeling like I wasn’t exceptional in any one area, but good in lots of areas, I headed into the field many people I knew went into — elementary education. (I also had several friends who all went into Biology or Chemistry in order to go to medical school. In the end, only one of them actually went to medical school.)

I can’t help but wonder now — did we just not know there was a big world out there, with careers we never even knew existed? What might we have done if we had more exposure to the world?

As for that career I never even knew existed — I work a few hours a week as an independent contractor through my state’s Early Intervention Services. I work with kids under the age of three with delays or disabilities, and I love it. It works for our family because of a flexible schedule, and what other job allows you to be in the room the very first time a little girl says “Mama,” while you watch her Mother’s eyes fill with tears?

The moral of this story? Expose your kids to many, many careers! Take them into the world and let them take it in. Encourage them to explore where their passion lies, and see where it can lead them. But, also, lead them to explore other things. Their perfect future career is out there, and they may not even know it exists.

If you had to guess today, what do you think your child might do as a future career? What did you dream of being when you were young?

photo by chelsey paul photography