Each day in our professional leadership roles we teach, push, encourage and reward. We rally our team members in effort to achieve maximum success. We are, in essence, coaches.
As parents, we are also coaches for our children. Just like with our team at work, we want each child to be wildly successful. We encourage them to follow their dreams because we want our youngsters to be happy in life. We also want to give them the freedom to choose their own career—one that they believe is the right fit for them.
The tough part is helping our children weigh risks and rewards. Do we want our kids to follow a dream that leads to no job or just a low-paying job? Probably not. I often hear parents and grandparents talk with mixed pride about a daughter who has a degree and is now making just above the minimum wage because that’s what the particular field pays. Or worse, a son can’t find any work in his chosen field and is now working in an industry that has no relation to the degree he worked so hard to earn.
Just as we coach for success at work, we need to give our children career coaching that will lead to solid professions. Quite frankly, it’s a lot easier to be happy when you’re making $75,000 a year than $35,000. We have a parental obligation to gently guide our children into careers that will be rewarding and satisfying both personally and financially.
Part of that coaching as a parent includes staying in tune with the times—knowing which jobs are in most relevant and in demand, and therefore profitable, in the current marketplace. Here are some examples of strong jobs today:
- Health care: dentists, nurses, pharmacists – almost anything in the field
- Technology: systems analyst, software developer – you name it in technology
- Engineering: civil, mechanical, electrical, etc.
- Professions: lawyers, accountants and managers
We love our kids and grandkids; so let’s use our coaching skills to position them for a lifetime of success.
