Aspirations

Since it has been so long since I've actually blogged, I am unsure if I've already shared this story. If I'm repeating myself, forgive me.

A couple of months ago, I was driving my daughter somewhere and she was quietly observing things as we passed them. We came to a stop light and were sitting there a few minutes when all of a sudden she pipes up, "Mommy, I think I want to be a blower when I grow up."

Huh?...I think to myself...a blower?? Did I hear her correctly?

So I ask..."A blower? What do you mean?"

"Like that guy, " was her reply.

I looked out the window to see a man using a leaf blower to clean dirt off of the parking lot of a repair shop. That was her latest aspiration. A blower operator.

"You want that job when you grow up? I thought you wanted to be an artist or a vet?"

"Well, I like those too, but a blower makes the world clean."

If she only knew that it would take a lot more than a leaf blower to make this world "clean". But it's a nice thought nonetheless and I had to give her credit for wanting to clean up the place.

My oldest son has also added a new profession to his list of possibilities as of late. He told my brother-in-law as they were talking on the phone the other day that he wanted to be a lion tamer.

A lion tamer? Really? How cute is that? Unfortunately, my brother-in-law kind of laughed at him and I think it hurt his feelings. He's 10 -- if he thinks he wants to be a lion tamer, then I say let him. That is the great thing about being a kid. You can hope and wish for these things before the responsibility of adulthood and the working world becomes a reality. If my child thinks he wants to tame lions, so be it. At least he has an aspiration to do something. He can add it to the list of other aspirations I've heard him mention -- marine biologist, paleontologist, wildlife photographer.

Oftentimes I am very saddened by how quickly our kids are pressured to grow up. Let them be kids for goodness sake. Why do they need the pressure of being a grown up thrust on them at a young age?? Why do people insist on exposing them to things that children do not need to see or know about? Let them be innocent -- let them be young -- let them have imagination and hope for things that may be a little silly or unrealistic. It makes me sad that peer pressure makes children feel bad about themselves if they do like things that are considered "uncool". Who decides what's cool anyway??

When my kids are older and doing whatever it is they end up doing with their lives (which is going to happen in the blink of an eye), I am quite sure they will get a kick out of knowing that they aspired to lion taming and making the world sparkling clean.

For now, I plan to encourage their childhood dreams and aspirations and to continually let them know that I believe that they CAN do whatever it is they hope to do.