Help their Dreams Grow

It is not uncommon for parents to hear what their children are planning for their own futures. I still remember the day when my oldest just 5 told me she was going to grow up and find real dinosaurs where they are hiding. I let her know that the only dinosaurs I know of that are hiding are in the ground and she could be an Archaeologist. Being a girl that loved to dig in the dirt, this sounded like a great plan to her.

I think it is important to help children see their futures and what paths they can take to get there. They don’t have the experience to know their options so it is a gift to help lay them out before them. It is not early to help them plan.

    Plans will Change

Remember that plans for children will change, dreams will fade and be reborn. It is not our job as parents to set the path and make our children walk down them but to let out children know what options are there and let our children pick their paths. Of course if the path is not legal, then we need to set before our children better paths. When children pick bad paths is another post though. Just be mindful that it is not a failed path or dream if a child changes what they want to do with their future and no time was lost. Be flexible!

  Plan for College, set the path early!

When my 4 year old told me she wants to take care of kitties when she gets older I told her about different jobs she might have when she grows up that will help her do that and how she might want to get a degree, a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. There are so many jobs though working with cats and I told her about a few that I know of. Yes, she is young, but as her dreams grow, so will the information I help her gather about what she wants to do someday.

My son told me he wants to be a super hero, while I don’t really know just how to help him with that yet, perhaps he needs to consider a masters degree in criminology or maybe he needs to go to an art school so he can draw himself saving the world on little reader at a time?

  Be organized

It might sound too soon but a great practice to have is to keep track of the dreams your children have for when they grow up and keep track of the paths you have told them about. My husband keeps an “I love me” binder for each of us that includes important things about us from health to awards to goals. It is a great place to keep track of future plans. Kids love looking back on their lives, specially the things they have forgotten. They love knowing that we took the time to notice how they feel and what they think. Being organized now will help them be organized when they do grow up, as we never do stop making plans and having dreams do we?