So many people migrate into second careers because they don’t find their original work fulfilling. It’s not difficult to imagine why. Most people decide what they will be doing with the rest of their lives when they are eighteen and deciding their college major. Often, the job that made the most sense to the teenager who had never worked a day in their life doesn’t make as much sense to the overworked, middle-aged adult they will one day become.
You can’t pick your child’s career for them. You can steer them toward careers that make a difference. In this article, we take a look at how you can help your child find meaning in their eventual career.
Why Does it Matter?
Helping the community has its own generally agreed-upon value. The majority of people can recognize why it is a good thing to improve the place where you live or even the wider world. But anyone can do this through volunteering, or financial contributions to worthy causes.
Why dedicate your professional life to making a difference?
The answer to that question is simple: About forty percent of people are unhappy with their jobs in the United States. The place where they spent 40+ hours a week does not bring them joy.
That’s a lot of time to spend being unhappy. Of course, many of the most impactful jobs are not exactly a walk in the park. Healthcare workers are experiencing burnout at increasingly high levels as shortages make already difficult jobs harder.
Teachers, social workers, and people working in the non-profit sector, all experience substantial stress levels. There aren’t many jobs out there that promise rewarding work and a carefree life.
There are careers that allow people to feel proud of and satisfied with the work that they do. As a parent, you can help your child identify these careers through the tips we will get into in the next few headings.
Identify What “Impactful” Means
Every family will have a different idea of what it means to make a difference in the community. Some might place a high value on military or law enforcement careers, while others will focus more on healthcare or community services.
You might also work in areas that are experiencing a high need. This will both increase the impactfulness of your child’s potential contribution and ensure that there is adequate demand for that job when they enter the workforce.
Doctors, nurses, and mental health counselors are all in-demand careers in the world of healthcare. They also come with fairly high compensation, which is not always a guarantee in the world of “impactful,” careers.
Play to Your Child’s Interest
Naturally, you want to make sure that your child is genuinely interested in the careers you are spotlighting. Their current interests and personality traits may shape what careers they are best suited for.
Very compassionate children might make excellent social workers. Patient, disciplined children might make good teachers.
Ultimately, however, it’s best to expose your child to as many options as possible. While your impressions of them can be a good place to begin forming recommendations, you don’t want to limit their options based on your preconceptions about them.
Orient Your Family Values
Kids often make it through high school without a clear idea of what they should place the most value on as an adults. Family? Money? Personal satisfaction? Ask the average person what matters most and they will probably say family. Friends. Relationships. Can you point to even one core aspect of Western experience that is designed to reflect that?
For better or worse, most adults have to spend at least half of their waking hours working. With the time that they spend beyond the trenches, they can prioritize whatever they like.
On the job, there isn’t a lot of wiggle room. You focus on what needs to be done. Are those tasks designed to do good in the world, or simply generate money?
A child will have no reason to prioritize meaningful work in an environment that overly emphasizes the importance of money.
You don’t have to live a Thoreau-like existence to orient their values. You don’t even need to be working in a job that makes a difference in the community yourself—though that certainly doesn’t hurt.
You can have regular conversations about what matters the most in life. Happiness. Personal fulfillment. Making a difference in the world. Make sure they leave your home understanding that happiness can come from many different directions and that income has little to do with your emotional baseline experience.
Put it Out There
Kids only know what they are exposed to. That may be one of the reasons that so many people grow up to do work similar to what their parents did. There are many ways you can expose your child to impactful work.
If you know people who work in careers that make a positive contribution to the community, consider asking them to discuss their work with your child. Having those kinds of conversations is a simple but impactful way to introduce your child to new ideas.
You can also just make a point of identifying community helpers to your child when they encounter them in everyday life. Their teacher. The librarian who always makes a point of setting aside books that they find interesting. Doctors and nurses.
Conclusion
Impactful careers can be an important component of a happy life. Still, it is important to remember that putting too much pressure on your child—regardless of your intentions—is almost always a bad thing.
Pushing your child toward becoming a social worker can put just as much stress on them as they might have felt if you pushed them to be an engineer. As a parent, the best thing you can do for your child is to make them feel supported and accepted in whatever job they choose.
