I remember as a kid always wanting to be a doctor. I recognized the importance of medical practice and wanted to help people. I wanted to help a lot of people. This changed around 8th grade as I realized that the sight of blood made me very queazy.

What next?… a fireman, that looked cool but that particular idea didn’t last long either because…blood.

How about an artist, but what kind? Choices, choices. Oh I know, how about a designer of some kind? Then I learned that designers needed a lot of technical skills of which I took a natural and surprising affinity. There were numbers and lines and shapes. And ooh, geometry which I loved! Drafting was something to me as systematic and thoughtful. There was logic in everything that was created/designed, there had to be.

Logic, either literal or physical. Literal, either philosophical or actual. Actual, one’s perception of what ‘is’. Philosophical, either tangible or intangible.

My head was spinning. Maybe I want to be some type of physicist. I had always liked astronomy and was stargazing since I was a child. What was ‘out there?’ What was beyond ‘out there?’ How could it all be? Now my head was really spinning. In hindsight an astrophysicist would have been perfect for me, I think.

I was always very interested in anthropology and archeology. And then later, psychology and philosophy. Hmm, what else… I know there’s probably more but those were the ones that readily popped into my head.

Never once while growing up did I think to become an educator, teaching in the elementary school setting. But here I am, and I know this is where I’m supposed to be.

It’s great to be a kid and think of the many possibilities of lifelong contribution to society. Although kids don’t think of it that way…being a ‘lifelong contributor to society’, but that’s what it is. Maybe we are asking the wrong question to our children. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” That question doesn’t encompass the big picture of life. “Who would you like to become when you grow up?” That question open the door for so much wonderful discussion that gets kids to think about the bigger picture of life. A lifelong contributor to society has such promise. Questions can be asked along with meaningful discussion for both child and parent.

When I grow up, I want to be a lifelong contributor to society!

Oh really, that sounds exciting! Tell me about it…