As I mentioned in this recent post, our firstborn is off to school in the fall, which will leave us minus one child here at home during the school year. If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw some photos from the different universities we visited awhile back:
I can hardly believe it. Sigh.
Where is she going to study? Well, we don’t know yet. She’s been accepted to three out of five schools she has applied to so far. She’s relieved to know someone out there wants her, but she is also waiting to hear back about one particular university.
Not that I would file any of these points under the “Parenting Regrets” column, but can I take a moment to make a few observations about this new chapter in our lives?
Career discussions with teens can start early, I mean REALLY EARLY
I knew I wanted to do be a writer in second grade, but not everyone is like me. That’s why it’s helpful to plant those seeds early and chat with teens and tweens about career options as soon as they start to develop their own interests. I understand that kids may not know exactly what they want to do the rest of their lives, but they are probably passionate about something: animals (future vet!), books (librarian, author, editor!), computers (programmer, game designer!), doodling (graphic design!), lemonade stands (app developers, entrepreneurs!), arguing about why they don’t need to make their bed in the morning (HELLO LAW SCHOOL). So making observations about their interests and helping them pursue them in bigger ways might be a good idea.
You know, I really don’t think young people have an idea of the thousands of different kinds of jobs there are. Many jobs escape our notice because we don’t understand them or even know they’re out there. You know what might be helpful? Going through job ads with your teen. Sit down together and head over to a site like Monster.ca or Charityvillage.com and just see what’s out there! Good topics to discuss while you’re there could include salaries, taxes, and cost of living.
Related to this: I spotted this in my Twitter feed recently. It’s also worth checking out:
What are the jobs & salaries of recent post-secondary school graduates? Use the Career Tool to find out. https://t.co/5MKlcrlb7J
— Job Bank (@JobBank_GC) February 28, 2017
Pay attention to that high school course catalog
Here’s a worst case scenario to think about. Imagine you’re a teenager who decides, in the early part of grade 12, that you want to pursue a field of study at a particular school. You look at the school’s course requirements and realize that you should have been taking math all along because now the options are (a) rethink your career aspirations or (b) take a year off and do nothing but study math. If you’re that teen I bet you are devastated. That’s why those career conversations need to start early and course selections need to be to be made strategically. Related to this, of course…
Grade evaluation
What grade average does your kid need in order to get into the school of their choice? In no way am I advocating helicopter parenting here, but it’s important to have this info at hand even if your child is doing well in school. Let’s look at the real life case of Frannie Goodstudent (not her real name). Frannie always brought home good grades, in the 80s. Her mother, Mrs. Goodstudent, also did well in high school and university and was pleased that the apple did not fall far from the tree. Frannie’s father, who was not a high-achieving student in high school, was DOUBLY proud of his daughter’s academic achievements. No need to worry about this one! And no one gave her grades a second thought until Frannie decided she wanted to go to Niche Program at Big University. They looked into it together and to their dismay, found out that it’s such a desirable program, Frannie will need high 80s or 90s to get in. Suddenly, those great marks aren’t good enough. What’s a girl like Frannie to do?
