«What do you want to be when you grow up?»
As a child, I wanted to be a dustman. It was the only profession I could visualise. Then I became interested in sport and visualised myself as a professional ice hockey player one day. Then I started reading adventure novels and wanted to be an archaeologist. Then I was in a theatre group and saw myself as an actor.
I realised that these were all fantasy professions. I didn't know what I really wanted to be. To be honest, I didn't like the question either. All the adults asked me. When I was younger, they thought my answers - dustman, archaeologist - were funny. Later, they seemed disappointed that I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do for a living.
Even today, there seems to be a competition to see which child will be the first to know what they want to be. Parents love it when eight-year-olds say they want to be a structural draughtswoman. Secondary school teachers breathe an audible sigh of relief when pupils in middle school discuss the advantages of an apprenticeship as a mediamatician.
During my studies - first political science (cancelled), later a business school - a quiet desperation rose up in me because I really had no idea what I wanted to be. I just had a vague feeling that it absolutely had to be something I was passionate about.
Journalism was then a stopgap solution. Here I could watch others burning for something. After all. Then I had to write about it, that was the catch.
Vocation is total rubbish
I think we should stop asking our children the question: «What do you want to be when you grow up?» Firstly, the «vocation» thing is total rubbish. It may be the case that people know early on what they want to do when they grow up. But as a rule, imagining a certain future is disappointing.
You won't get there. And if you do, it will have little in common with the image you had in mind. It's better to try out as many things as possible and let yourself be surprised. Of professions. Of people too.
Because whether you become a professional footballer, a dustman or an archaeologist, the question is never what you do, but always how you do it.
Secondly, the question forces children to define themselves by their job. And if we define ourselves by our job, our self-worth depends on whether we are successful. I'm not saying that there aren't successful people who are happy.
I'm just saying that people are happy when they do something they enjoy, even if they lose. And thirdly, the question is annoying because you can't answer honestly. You can't say I want to become «brave» or «popular» or «invisible». But that's exactly what you want to be when you're a child.
We should stop asking our children the question: «What do you want to be when you grow up?» Instead, we should ask: «What do you want to be when you grow up?» We should ask them to think about what kind of person they want to be, not what profession they see themselves in.
Because whether you become a professional footballer, a dustman or an archaeologist, the question is never what you do, but always how you do it.
