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Why Do We Destroy Kids’ Dreams?

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 | motivation

When I was a kid I wanted to be various things when I grew up:  astronaut, mailman, dinosaur rancher, President of the USA.  My friends typically had the same ambitions and our parents usually responded by telling us that we could be anything if we just set our minds to it.  However, somewhere along the way we all encountered some snarky pessimist who shot our dreams down by telling us “Hey stupid kid, you’ll never be president!  There’s millions of people who want that job!”.  Poof!  Our dreams are popped.  Is this really what we should be telling our kids?

It’s true though - the chances of you becoming president are one in a billion.  The chances of you becoming an astronaut don’t look good either.  In fact, the majority of kids’ fantasy careers can’t be attained.  But rather than bitterly shooting down our dreams or slathering us with unfounded optimism, perhaps adults should take the middle road.  Encourage a child in pursuing their fantasy field, rather than a particular dream job.

After all, with a little hard work the chances of you attaining some kind of political position are decent, even if you’re the mayor of a small town.  And if that fails, working for the government in some capacity is a very realistic goal.  And although your child may never set foot on the moon, the chances of getting a job involving flight, astronomy, NASA or satellites is fairly good if they’re wililng to work at it.  You may never become a famous rock star, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to sing, play guitar and perform in a local band.  Do you get the picture?

So next time you’re tempted to shoot down somebody’s dreams, think twice.  We may end up with more dinosaur ranchers that way.

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