Why I Hate Asking Kids ‘What Will You Be When You Grow Up’
<p>We say a lot of stupid things to kids. But as a parent to three young kids, there’s one question I find especially lothesome.</p>
<p>It’s ubiquitous, and people ask it almost automatically. Often, it’s the second question an adult asks a kid, after “What’s your name?”</p>
<p>What’s this eminently annoying question?</p>
<p><strong>“What do you want to be when you grow up?”</strong></p>
<p>Here’s why I hate this question — and what questions you should ask instead.</p>
<h2>We’re Really Asking About a Profession</h2>
<p>My biggest gripe with this common question is that we’re not really asking kids “What do you want to be?”</p>
<p>Instead, <strong>we’re implicitly asking them “What profession would you like to choose?”</strong></p>
<p>The question presupposes that people are defined by the job they do — that their place in society is based on their choice of work.</p>
<p>There are plenty of things that a person can “be” that have nothing to do with their job. Yet when people ask kids this question, they’re usually expecting a response like “a doctor” or “a football player.”</p>
<p>No one asks this question and expects to hear “I want to be a father,” or “I want to be a good Jew/Christian/Muslim/Hindu,” or simply, “I want to be a nice person with lots of friends, a hammock in the backyard, and an abundant supply of decent but not overly frou-frou coffee in my pantry.”</p>
<p><a href="https://tomsmith585.medium.com/why-i-hate-asking-kids-what-will-you-be-when-you-grow-up-e464b831d6f3"><strong>Learn More</strong></a></p>