Supporting your child's career decisions :Cross Stitch – Parents
Making career plans is an important part of growing up, but it can be a challenge. As a parent, there’s plenty you can do to support your child and help them find the career that’s right for them.
Your child will have decisions to make at different stages, so it’s worth raising the subject of careers from time to time over a period of years.
It doesn’t have to be a formal discussion – especially when they’re young. You might want to talk about types of job that are in the news, or the career choices of someone your child admires.
You could also discuss types of career that might be relevant to their interests, and whether a high salary is a priority.
Because you’re speaking from a position of experience, it can be tempting to take control of the conversation. If you’re not careful, there’s a risk that your child could see this as you dismissing their ideas.
It’s worth remembering that:
- your child’s decisions will ultimately be their own – so you should be prepared to discuss potential careers that are different from those you’ve had in mind
- keeping an open mind will also encourage your child to keep you up-to-date with their career ideas
- not everyone has a clear idea what they want to do from and early age – and your child’s ambitions are likely to change as they get older
You can help your child start thinking about careers by pointing them towards useful sources of information. There’s nothing to stop them beginning their research as soon as they’re ready.
There’s plenty of information online to help your child find out what different careers are like – Cross & Stitch’s section for young people is a good place to start.
Once your child has some ideas about where they want to go with their career, encourage them to look into what they need to do to get there.
As well as helping them decide on their next steps, this will encourage them to develop the decision-making skills important in adult life. They will need to weigh up the pros and cons of various options, make a decision based on the information available – then put their plan into action.