What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?

What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?

You can tell a lot about what is swimming around a child’s brain by asking them what they want to be when they grow up. I periodically ask my children this question and I am always amazed. I feel as if I am lifting the tops of their precious little thinking caps off, and peering into a secret place.
For many years our oldest son has been enthralled with the work our pediatrician does. He loved all the tools of the trade: the reflex hammer, the thermometer, the blood pressure cuff. He thought he might want to be a “children’s doctor” and make sick kids feel better. My maternal hopes swelled with the aspirations of my son. I had visions of him walking down the graduation aisle at Dartmouth accepting his medical degree. However, the first week of kindergarten last year Mrs. Holmes assigned him “Trash Patrol”. He came home so excited that first day. He concocted a scheme with his younger brother to buy a garbage truck and make a family business out of it. He even suggested their future wives get in on the act. Although inside I was a little disappointed, I mustered a talk about how every job is important and they can become anything they want to be, as long as they work hard at it and do their best.
However, our middle son was not going to follow that dream for very long. When he learned that being a garbage man is very hard work, and sometimes you get wet, and you have to work in the cold and the snow, he fell back to his original plan of being a rock star and a superhero. He is very secretive about the details of this superhero, so I suspect that he will also have a secret identity, which may be very difficult to maintain if he is moonlighting as a rock star.
Our youngest son currently tells me he wants to be a policeman. That is indeed a noble calling to protect the public. When I mentioned this, our middle son changed his mind and decided he would be a fireman. Oh what brave little boys I have!
Not to be outdone, our oldest son decided he wants to be a civil engineer. He likes the idea of bossing people around and telling them how to build roads, which is what he does a lot of now in the sandbox in our backyard.
As I think about my own children’s dreams I can’t help but recall a funny memory as a teenager. I was ten years older than my youngest brother. As we went down the highway we passed through a toll plaza. My five year old brother’s eyes got as big as saucers and he exclaimed, “Mommy, I want to be a toll collector when I grow up!” I could see the look of disappointment wash over my Mother’s face. Upon further questioning, it seems my brother Tim thought the toll collector’s got to keep all the money they collected. Now years later, at the age of 25, my beloved younger brother is a professional student. He has changed his major more times than some people change their underclothes. If you were to ask my Mom, she would jump at the chance for him to make an honest living as a toll collector.
I have done many jobs in my life, from cleaning dog kennels, to washing dishes, to my current career, secondary to motherhood; being a nurse. However, no matter what job a person chooses to hold in their life, it is the hearts you touch and the integrity with which you live that really defines your life.
If I am blessed to raise kind and hardworking little men, then I will be truly proud, whether they are driving a garbage truck down the street or changing into their superhero outfit in a public restroom. In fact, if we looked around us, we would probably find a lot of superheroes doing the most ordinary jobs imaginable. The next time a waitress serves you coffee, check to see if she has a cape tucked behind her apron!



Kimberly Mihelich