Choosing a good career option for your children, which is according to their interests is very important. Most of the time we see parents forcing their opinions on their children. They want their children to have the best as per what they believe is the best and in the process forget the interest of the child. In this article we will show you Help Your Child To Choose A Career.
Parents and other family members are good at giving advice, without understanding the strengths and passion of their children. When you force children to take up career options that don’t interest them, you will find them disinterested and not excelling in those options.
It is very important for parents to guide their children in their career options. Tell them the facts which include the amount of hard work they are expected to put in and the challenges, difficulties, benefits and also the gratification that they would get from pursuing a particular profession. Children should be well aware of what they are getting into.
Many a time we find that after taking admission for a particular course, the child realizes that this stream is not what they wanted to pursue and so they switch to another course after the 1st year of admission.
Help Your Child To Choose A Career
1. Understand your child’s strength and passion for a particular subject.
You would already know the liking’s and strengths of your child. For e.g, my daughter is 12 years old and she loves biology and wants to become a doctor. She just loves to read anything about biology and most of the time we buy her encyclopedias on biology as these books interest her.
If you are not sure about your children likes or passion, then you can take them to a career counselor who can conduct various aptitude tests and give you appropriate advice. You need not completely rely on this advice but you can take it as a starting point and then brainstorm with your child to find out more about other options
2. Try and resist forcing your unfulfilled ambitions on them.
This is one of the most difficult things to do because as parents we usually want our children to take up the same profession as we are in. Doctor parents would want their children to become doctors while engineers will want their children to become engineers. This is usually because parents already have an established practice and would like their children to just step in and reap the benefits easily.
Sadly, parents fail to understand that their child is a unique individual and may not be passionate about the things their parents are passionate about. Also parents should not discourage their children from taking up a certain profession just because they think it is not a great career option.
3. Share with your child the knowledge of different career options in order to help them arrive at the right decision.
Sometimes children are unsure about their career options and hence are indecisive. It is good to expose your children to nature, arts, science, museums, animals, travel etc. early in life. You can gauge their interest by watching how they enjoy these activities. Encourage them to learn more about the areas that interest them.
Most of the time the activities that generate interest in children are linked to the stream they take up as a career and they tend to become more successful in it.
4. Try to find a mentor for your child or some friend who holds the same passion for a particular career.
It is important to find a good mentor in the particular field that your child shows interest in. Find a mentor who can inspire and encourage your child’s career aspirations.
It is also important to find like-minded friends for your children. The children that your child hangs around with will greatly influence how big they dream or how inspired they are from their peers to follow their dreams and passion. Spending time with like-minded friends will help them to find out more about a particular profession and thus take appropriate decisions.
5. Support your child’s choice of a career if they are passionate about something.
Many a time you will come to a crossroad when you disagree with the choice of career that your child wants to take up. It is important to be patient and supportive of their decision. Find out more about their career choice and educate them about the advantages and disadvantages of their career choice. You need to help them take the right decision.
6. Be a good role model for your children.
It is important to set an example and be a good role model for your children. If you are hardworking, take good decisions and have positive work habits, then your children are bound to follow in your footsteps.
These are some tips that can help you support your child in making wise and appropriate career decisions.
Hope you enjoyed this article Help Your Child To Choose A Career.
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