Career Aspirations of the Next Generation

You would think that I was used to the unusual career aspirations of children. We have survived the moments of announcing to the Doctor or Priest "I want to be a WalMart Check-Out Girl when I grow up." We have survived the, "I thought I would live forever with you and you would take care of me." conundrum, but I must say, what hit us last night was unusual- to say the least.

We were out to dinner and Molly announced that she had decided what she was going to be when she grows up. Molly is seven, and being the ever-curious Mom, I promptly asked her to share.

"I am going to be a scientist Mommy."

The silence, the pride, the amazement my husband and I shared. Wow we thought and mouthed to one another. What an amazing career choice this child has selected. We were impressed, we were shocked. We were happy! Finally, a child was planning a career that required an education! Filled with pride, I asked Molly to please go on, tell us what type of scientist she was going to be.

"I am going to study ice."

Phil immediately started giggling. I reached into the depths of my brain- ice? Had I read to her the article about the alarming rate at which the ice was melting and significant impact this was going to have on our environment? Had we watched something on Discovery? My brilliant child absorbs things with amazing skill and I was awed at this prospect. But, still I had to keep going and ask her what type of ice does this type of scientist study.

"You know Mom, the cubed kind, the crushed kind, the walk-on kind, and the break- ice kind."

As I said, the Career Aspirations of the Next Generation, at least we will be saving lots of money on college tuition!