Friends are always asking my 2 daughters what they want to be when the grow up. My 9 year-old Mia wants to be a marine biologist and my 5 year old wants to be a veterinarian.(And so do their friends). I think animals are an obsession for little girls (maybe it's the innate sense of nuturing that females are born with). Recently my friend, Teri told me that at her son's kindergarten graduation each child had to tell the class/parents what they wanted to be when they grew up. The occupations ran the gammet from firemen to NBA stars...and...SEVEN, yes, SEVEN dolphin trainers. Sea World will never have to worry about a shortage of trainers for our friendly ocean friends.
Before my girls were born, i had a plan for their future. My children would grow up to be corporate attorneys. They'd share a practice Baumunk & Baumunk with Disney as their top client. They wouldn't have to worry about men or $. Because the world would be theirs. Of course, they wouldn't want me or Charlie to work so we'd just travel. As toddlers, I even had them trained:
"Mia/Sofia, what you do you want to be when you grow up?"
"corprit turneys"
Unfortunately, that is not how I see things laying out. Mia insists that she'd have her own medical marine biologist office and she'd also work part-time at the zoo and I would answer the phones back at her office. After she'd get done helping the animals get better at the zoo, she'd go to her waitress job at RA sushi. Sofia just mimics what her older sister says, "And me, too!"
Mia has also questioned me regarding different occupations:
While sitting at a stop light waiting to turn into the AZ Mills Mall she looks over to an establishment on the right hand side of the street:
"Mommy, why are all the men going into that building?"
I look over and see that the aforementioned establishment is "Christy's Cabaret" strip joint. I smile and look back at her and tell her that they are picking up doughnuts. It's a doughnut shop.
She stares back at me with a "you've-just-insulted-my-intelligence" glare.
So..I decided to give her an honest answer...
"Well, Mia..when you drop out of school and don't go to college and get your education, that is where you'll end up."
She furrows her brow, "What exactly do you mean?"
I continue, "If you don't get your education, you will end up dancing naked in front of fat, ugly, sweaty men on a pole."
Her jaw dropped, "ARE YOU SERIOUS? THAT'S DISGUSTING! That is what happens there?!!!"
And with that, the conversation ended.
A few months later my father was visiting and we came to the same stoplight in front of the mall and Mia taps my father on the shoulder,
"Grandpa Bernard, if ya' don't get your education you're gonna end up working there...dancing naked on a pole in front of fat, ugly, sweaty men."
My father just shook his head.
"And another thing grandpa-- they don't serve doughnuts there."
So needless to say, I am still trying to steer them in a positive direction when it comes to their future careers. If caring for animals is what she and her sister choose as their career path, so be it. I will love them no matter what they decide to do--(yes, even if it is swinging on a pole). But the marine biologist/ veterinarian gig seems to be on top of the list right now and I will do everything I can to encourage them to live their dreams.
---But I'm still making the Baumunk & Baumunk wall plaque (just in case)
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