(My son in his Civil Air Patrol uniform)
As I am writing this, my 17-year-old son has just left for his first official day of work. After eight months of looking, he finally landed a job. Of course it was with the help of my husband, who is the manager at a store that belongs to a large grocery chain in our city. He put in the word and my son was hired.
Yes, it helps to know someone. My husband waited this long to play the card because he was worried that our son would end up like him. My husband started off pushing carts (as our son will do, amongst other things) when he was 16 years old and he never left. Now he has been working in the grocery business for so many years that he feels he can never break out.
But my husband has done well and moved his way up the ladder to where he is now co-manager of a store. He has provided well for our family, including enabling me to be a stay-at-home mom when my children were young. So its not that my husband hasn’t done well, he just doesn’t want to see our son get stuck somewhere he never planned to be.
This is probably true for many people. We end up working in a career we never planned for. We may have gone to college for a particular field but it never worked out. There are all different reasons for this.
But I’m a determined mother. I am bound and determined to see my children go into a career that they not only enjoy but are passionate about. It is something I have instilled in my children from an early age, to get into a career that they will find true satisfaction in.
My son’s passion for flying began when he was nine years old and it has never left him. He has one more year of high school and then he will be attending a community college where he can get his pilot’s license. I will make sure this happens. I will be his support and his cheerleader.
That’s what teens need. They need someone to believe in them. They need to hear that they can do whatever they want. And as parents I truly believe it is our job to do everything in our power to make that happen.
I have tried to nurture his interest in flying as much as possible, even having him join the “Civil Air Patrol,” where he got his first experience being up in the air and having complete control of the small Cessna plane.
I enrolled him in ground school, which took place over several weeks and required a huge sacrifice of driving him half an hour there and half an hour back. But like I said, I am a determined mom. I will do what I can to see my children’s dreams fulfilled no matter what it takes.
I would encourage all moms to talk to their teens about their future careers and emphasize the importance of getting into a field they will truly enjoy. We spend so much of our life working; we might as well enjoy it.
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