PARENTS: THE COMPASS TO CHILDREN’S CAREER

    Parents are no doubts pillars to support a child’s dream and vision. As little as children are, they have visions and aspirations; they have things that trigger their fancy as though they are adults but they may not know exactly how to get what they desire or what it entails to attain such.

   Young people need assistance in order to explore career possibilities and make important career decisions, but the world of work is more complex today than ever. They need far more guidance and information than did past generations, primarily because the high-tech, global market economy is growing and changing so rapidly.

   Parents are the navigator and compass to kid just as a car needs a navigator to locate its way on an unknown region. There are instances of parents who impose specific career choices on their children because they feel it’s worth the accomplishment not knowing in the process, they are killing the desires and passion of the children. On the other hand, some parents who have tried guiding their children on a career path get frustrated when the child has another career option. They don’t know whether to be glad that he/she has found the career that is right for him/her or sad that he/she is making the wrong choice.

   Career Confusion is not something every parent prays for and obviously, you don’t want this to happen to your child. Many, many university students change their majors late in the game. Many more students enter careers that they later learn are not suited to their personalities or abilities. The fact is that far too many students enter universities with vague notions or are simply clueless about themselves or the types of careers that match their interests.

   “But I’m not a councillor and I don’t know how to prepare my child for the right career” don’t worry; you’d be fortified with the right tools.

   The life of a child is like the foundation of a house. If it’s well built, it will stand for a long time if not it will crumble after a while. Parents are the engineers who use the right materials to build up a child and nurture them into undisputed structures that will make the society conducive.

   Career dissatisfaction is inevitable if students don’t attempt to understand themselves and what they want out of life before making important career decisions. With the proper guidance, young people can prepare themselves to make good career decisions, including selecting the right course and university. Career development is a process of preparing children to make good decisions for not just a career but the right career.

    Now we’ve understood why children need parent presence when it comes to career choices, let’s look at how parents can fulfill this obligation.

   In this article, there are some basic steps that you will be exposed to, but before then, as a parent, you should know that:

• Preparing your child for a career is all about transforming your child’s dream into a practical career plan that makes the dream possible.
• You have to make sure your child helps in making the right decisions at the right times
• There are important benefits in right career choices

STAGE ONE: SELF DISCOVERY

   Before young people choose a career, they should first try to understand themselves better. They need to identify what they like to do, and decide the kind of lifestyle they want to have. Under stage one, there are three steps.

STEP ONE: TEACH YOUR CHILD TO DREAM

   Dreams are children’s guiding stars and they are symbolic. It doesn’t really matter what the dreams are but they are all important. Children should dream about what they want to be and do as adults. Parents need to get their children to dream high and not low.

Imagining the future is the first step in making it come true. As parents, your job is to encourage your child to dream and express the dreams because careers are born from dreams. Dreams open children’s minds to the adult world; they are their first pictures of happiness and success.

   Parents must encourage their children to think about the future all the way through school. They can ask questions like:

What is it that interests you?

What are you and your friends thinking of doing after school?

   Most young people give up their dreams because of lack of encouragement. Interest has to be seen from the parents in order to spice up the desires of child, try to talk to them time after time it makes you understand your child and expose who they really are even to themselves.

   As a parent, you want to transform his/her vision into a mission. Here are some important questions you can ask your child:

If you could be any person in the world, who would you be?

Who is your hero?

If you could retire when you are forty, what would you do then?

If you could create a dream job, what would it be?

At this junction, stay tuned for next edition as I share with you other steps. Remember, Practice makes perfect make a move right now.

   
   Your attitude can have a powerful impact on your child’s career development and how they manage their career lifelong.

A career includes a lifetime of experiences including periods of education, training, paid employment, unpaid employment, unemployment, volunteer work and life roles. Children need the skills, knowledge and capabilities to navigate through these various experiences.