# Do you have the career you wanted as a child?



## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

My first choice as a child was to be an actress. When I lived in NYC, I saw an ad for an audition being held in the theater district. I went to the building and walked around the block several times but never had enough confidence to actually enter the building. It's funny, I always had a lot of confidence on stage in school plays but in real life I had zero confidence. My second choice was to be a writer. I'm too much of a dilletante to make a career out of writing. At times I've been interested in wood carving and water color painting or just having mindless fun. I have self-published my memoir and a Kindle book of my short stories. I've also self-published a kids' book which Vantage Press is officially releasing on 1 April 2011. I think the kids' book, _The Adventures of Azalea and the Step-Fairy_ has commercial potential and a friend of a friend of mine in California works at Disney Animation Studios--so I'm hoping the book gets in the right hands and that Disney will be interested. Most of my employment has been working as a secretary (later renamed program assistant to boost our egos if not our bank accounts).


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I only ever wanted to be two things - a mother and a teacher. I had two kids and got to be a stay-at-home mommy, and I was a substitute teacher for a few years. I loved both just as much as I thought I would.


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## Jen Bluekissed (Jan 22, 2011)

I wanted to be a cloisered nun until I was around 16 or so.  It didn't exactly turn out that way in the end...


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

I wanted to be a Lighthouse Keeper...."just put me on an island and leave me alone !!"

Ended up in Architecture, Meteorology, Geology and Pianos...traveling the world.

However, I did eventually build a very remote home which I call the "Lighthouse Ranch"


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

NapCat said:


> I wanted to be a Lighthouse Keeper...."just put me on an island and leave me alone !!"


My version of that was wanting a castle with a moat, where the moat was the most important feature.

I wanted to be a teacher, and conducted lengthy and detailed classes for my teddy bears. As an adult, I've taught English briefly a few times, but mostly worked as a translator and interpreter, with editing and proofreading thrown in, mostly for legal and commercial topics like franchise contracts and corporate marketing materials. Eight years ago my main job became being a mom, and now I only have a part-time career.


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## xandy3 (Jun 13, 2010)

I wanted to be either a ballerina or a theatrical director.  Both of which are a far cry from being in the security field as an assitant site supervisor.   But I love my job...most of the time


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

I always wanted to make games, and it's still a dream of mine--being part of the creation of a TV series or movie was also a big goal when I was growing up, and to be honest still is.  Health issues meant I couldn't do much of anything that took me out of the house, so eventually I became a writer, which wasn't exactly what I'd imagined I'd be, although I did read a huge amount when I was younger.  So now I'm an at-home dad and a writer, and couldn't reasonably be happier


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## Katie Salidas (Mar 21, 2010)

When I was a child, I wanted to be a veterinarian (I know, how original), then when I got older, I really found a love of theater. Sadly though, my parents drummed it into my head the no one ever makes it in acting, so I got a regular 9-5 job and hated life. After a few years the idea popped into my head to try and make something of my love of writing, so I began working on editing and revising stories I had been hobby writing. It took me 5 years, but I was able to finally publish my first novel. Now, I want to be an author when I grow up  (I'm still very much a big kid) and make a living from my writing.


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

I have always wanted to be a housewife and I'm lucky enough that we can afford for me to stay home (although, I'm now a stay at home mom, which is also wonderful)


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

I wanted to be a singer. I used to practice after school every day until I tried out for the talent show in 2nd grade. (I made it, BTW, score!) I spent many years in choirs and doing neighborhood shows. When I was in 8th grade, we had to write an autobiography with future predictions at the end. Mine was a backup singer for Barry Manilow, which would inevitably launch my own solo career. Silly, huh? 

Of course, this all went out the window junior year of high school when I read "Moby Dick" and realized one could analyze literature for a college major. That, plus being groomed as the editor our high school newspaper, and I was hooked. I knew it was all going to be about books, writing and editing from then on.

The best surprise for me was taking time off to be a stay-at-home mom for about ten years while my kids were younger. That was a job I had never thought of! I was all about my career until my husband and I decided to have children. Once I held my firstborn, my world and perspective changed completely. 

Since the kids are older now, I am trying to blend my parenting duties with resurrecting the writing and editing career. It depends what day it is whether or not I am succeeding, but it's all about the journey, right?


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I planned to be a missionary doctor, never considered anything else until the first time I entered a cadaver lab for college anatomy - yuck, yuck, yuck.  I became a medical/legal secretary instead  .  It turned out to be a case of "things happen the way they are supposed to" because the secretarial career was much easier to move around with my marine corps/JAG husband and to work with him when he opened his own office.  Now I am a stay-at-home G-ma and it is the best job I have ever had.

I have had a few "what if" days through the years, but have been overall happy with the choices I made.


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## Martel47 (Jun 14, 2010)

I don't remember this, but my parents have told me that my first career choice was to be "filthy rich".  

Epic Fail.

The first answer I remember giving to the question of what I wanted to be when I grow up is a little different.  I wanted to be an astronaut.  My eyesight is too bad and I hated math and refused to take anything after Calculus, so I never even decided to try to work for NASA, but I do know a couple of rocket scientists and NASA computer techs.

So, now, I'll just say I would love to be a professional student and stay in school for the rest of my life.  Unfortunately, to pay for that I'd have to be...filthy rich.


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## stormhawk (Apr 29, 2009)

As I child I wanted to be either an Indian or a wolf, not realizing that you had to have a specific genetic disposition toward either. As an adult, however, I have become acquainted with Native American Spirituality, and in some important sense attained both goals. 

In my freshman year of high school I was made to do a "career report." I wanted to be a Psychiatrist. I thought it would be cool and interesting, helping people like that. And it seemed pretty interesting, some of the stories about really nutty things people do when they're off their medications.

I never went to medical school.

I worked as an Information Systems Manager for many years. I have an undergraduate degree in Geography and Planning. 

I lost my job and needed something to pay the bills. With the help of a friend who was a nurse, I ended up applying at a psychiatric hospital. As a temp. This becomes important later.

They promised I wouldn't have any contact with the patients. 

After I got over my initial fear, and actually started talking to the patients, I found that I liked it, was comfortable with them. Time marched on, I became a full hire, and at the urging of one of the psychologists, went to graduate school.  

I have a Master's Degree in Psychology. 

I commit people. 

No, really. 

I am a mental health commitment officer and professional crisis intervention counsellor. 

Oh, and that temp job ... it's lasted 19 years.


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## matt youngmark (Jan 11, 2011)

I remember that I wanted to be an "artist," although I had only a vague impression of what that actually entailed.

So... full-time graphic designer and part-time author? Reasonably close?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I think the first job I thought seriously about was to be a fighter pilot, but that was pretty well stifled by the time I got my first pair of glasses. (Air Force/Navy pilots then had to have 20/20 vision or better, uncorrected -- I think they may allow laser-corrected vision now.) Possibly a good thing, though, as I'm not sure how well I would have adapted to the military life (and the Vietnam era draft ended a couple years before I would have been eligible).


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

I wanted to be a cartoonist and worked on it for many years as an adult, too. I came close when my strip was chosen by a new Chicago-based newspaper, but the whole thing fell apart before the first issue came out. Writing was my second choice and I'm failing at that too.


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## tsilver (Aug 9, 2010)

TL:  What else is an 86 year old woman to do for fun?  I don't have the energy or stamina for my old vices.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

4Katie said:


> I only ever wanted to be two things - a mother and a teacher.


I was in that same boat as a kid. Now? I'm going to be a pharmacist in four months, and my free time is spent blogging, writing, or living vicariously through people who actually have lives.

Had I known I'd become a hermit, I would have invested in fewer heels and thicker socks.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

As a kid, I was fascinated by airplanes, and by the time I started college, the US manned space program was just underway, so I enrolled in aerospace engineering. After my freshman year, my faculty advisor said that with my mediocre grades in math, it would be a long struggle for me to graduate in aerospace engineering. He recommended that I look into civil engineering, which didn't require quite as much math. I changed my major to civil engineering, and after graduating, I spent the next forty years designing highways, which I loved.

I still get a thrill driving down a road or going through a freeway interchange that I designed.


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

I wanted to be a baseball player, or a track and field athlete, but I lack athletic skills, and had severe asthma.  Then, I thought about being a journalist, until I took one journalism class in high school and hated it.  I always wanted to be a published writer though, which was a back-up plan, and since I lost my job in this economy over a year ago, well, that's what I've become, and I've pushed my novels to the general public harder than I did in the previous 3 years. Too bad I'm not getting paid enough to do it.


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## R. H. Watson (Feb 2, 2011)

I wanted to be an aquanaut, just like Mike Nelson on Sea Hunt and later, just like Jacques-Yves Cousteau. I didn't do anything remotely similar, but thats OK; I was always better at imagining reality than participating in it.


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## R. H. Watson (Feb 2, 2011)

JimC1946 said:


> I still get a thrill driving down a road or going through a freeway interchange that I designed.


Back in the '70s when I was driving cab in NYC (not something I dreamed of doing when I was a child), once in a while I found myself on an overlapping interchange in the Bronx, late at night when it was almost empty and lit by yellow street lights. I fancied myself in the miniaturized Fantastic Voyage submarine coursing through blood vessels. I have fond memories of that interchange.


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## Alice Y. Yeh (Jul 14, 2010)

R. H. Watson said:


> I was always better at imagining reality than participating in it.


I think that this applies to a good number of readers...writers too...


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

I wanted to be president so....no. 

In 5th grade, I then decided I wanted to be a marine biologist and I'm still in the sciences at least, so I kind of sustained that one.


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## kindlequeen (Sep 3, 2010)

I'm not the princess/member of the united nations/lawyer/actress/singer/writer/reader that I thought I was going to be when I grew up....

Instead I am a used house salesgirl.  It's not dull but I still haven't figured out how to get paid for reading.... that would be an absolute dream.

The closest I've gotten to any of those is the singing part - a good friend of mine who's studying production has had me sing for school projects so I just may live one of those dreams in the future.


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## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

R. H. Watson said:


> I wanted to be an aquanaut, just like Mike Nelson on Sea Hunt...


Me too, and I eventually got certified and spent 22 years diving the world's seas. I only recently gave up diving due to health reasons.


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## Tatiana (Aug 20, 2010)

4Katie said:


> I only ever wanted to be two things - a mother and a teacher. I had two kids and got to be a stay-at-home mommy, and I was a substitute teacher for a few years. I loved both just as much as I thought I would.


I, too, wanted to be a teacher and a mom. I ended up with the best jobs in the world.  I am a mother, and was a stay-at-home mom, and I homeschooled my son. I was his teacher from elementary school through high school graduation.


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## patrisha w. (Oct 28, 2008)

Absolutely. When I was a child, school was the only place where I was happy and appreciated. {My mother was an alcoholic.}

I wanted to be a teacher. I was a teacher for 30 plus years and now, even though I love being retired, there are moments when I miss my seventh graders...


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## s0nicfreak (Jun 10, 2010)

When I was a kid, for a long time I wanted to be a doctor. Then I realized I hated school and would have to go for a long time to be a doctor, so I wanted to be something that did not require much school; a stripper. After having kids, that probably isn't a possibility


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## JFHilborne (Jan 22, 2011)

When I was a kid I wanted to be either a long distance lorry (truck) driver or a driving instructor. I guess I wanted the solitude. I went into real estate and finance. Definitely not what I had in mind.


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

Always wanted to be a writer. Figured I could be a high school English teacher too, because I wanted to be a mom, and I figured that would let me work when they were in school. (Seriously, I had these kinds of thoughts in the fourth grade.)

I doubt I'd have the patience to teach high school, but I do think college lit and writing could be fun, if I ever go back for a graduate degree.

For now, though, I'm quite happy being a writer. Even if it's emotionally exhausting at times.


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## xandy3 (Jun 13, 2010)

s0nicfreak said:


> When I was a kid, for a long time I wanted to be a doctor. Then I realized I hated school and would have to go for a long time to be a doctor, so I wanted to be something that did not require much school; a stripper. After having kids, that probably isn't a possibility


LOL! One of my best friends from grade school wanted to be a stripper! Ironically, she's a preacher's wife today. Funny how that works! LOL


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

I wanted to be a truck driver when I grew up (my dad drove a truck), and/or drag race!! I didn't get to do either, but I still like to drive fast!!  I am a retired church secretary!!


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## Talia Jager (Sep 22, 2010)

I had a few career dreams growing up. I wanted to be an astronaut until I found out I wasn't very good at math, and apparently astronauts need to be. Being a teacher crossed my mind (even went to college for it later on), but then decided teaching other people's kids was not the job for me. But, the two that stuck... a mother and a writer. I am married with five kids, so I have achieved that "dream career", and I have one book epublished (almost two, working on that this week).


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## caseyf6 (Mar 28, 2010)

I always wanted to have a family-- be a wife, be a Mom.  That part has come true.  My own family was pretty dysfunctional, so these are still the most important roles I have.

I didn't become a teacher, but I've been a teacher's aide twice and I am pretty sure it will end with that.  I love to teach, but apparently I don't like working in schools.  

I am in social services, and some days I actually get to help families.  

I've always made up stories, and I still write poetry, so I guess in some ways I'm the writer I thought I'd be; just unfinished and unpublished.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

I wanted to be a spaceman.
Grew older and read a lot of Heinlein.
And wanted to be a spacer (notice the trend here).
Read some Asimov and wanted to be a spaceship pilot/navigator.
Read some more and wanted to be a spaceship computer/navigator/pilot guy.
Well for a while I was working on Ion-drive propulsion systems at NASA and was a candidate for the U.S. AirForce Academy.  Until I found out the realities of hard science projects and that flying aircraft can be a highspeed bus driver job.
So, being lazy, I went into an easier field the emerging computer programming field.
See I already had to do some for the nuclear physics that the NASA thing required.
Been working in data communications kinda ever since - and have always loved my work.  Do stuff for govt agencies now.  Can work as long as there are bad guys.

And there is no chance in heaven that I can ever go into space when they finally go where I wanted to go.  Too old and too slow.  But what I do ain't bad.

Just sayin......


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## julieannfelicity (Jun 28, 2010)

As a small child I wanted to be an actress. But not just any actress, a musical actress. I wanted to sing. I wanted to dance. I wanted to knock people's socks off with my fabulous jazz hands.  When I was finally adopted as a tween, I took dance lessons (jazz & tap), I joined the school's choir and drama club, my church's choir and stations of the cross group (re-enacted the stations of the cross), and auditioned to over 50 plays in my area.
My adopted father was a professional photographer and had worked in Hollywood for many years (at one point he was engaged to Jeanne Crane, if anyone knows of her). He was very supportive of my dreams and aspirations. When I wasn't on stage, taking classes or singing with my choir (church or school) (or playing sports, or reading, or with friends), I was writing. When the acting/singing/dancing thing didn't seem to get me anywhere, I decided I wanted to be a writer. I always had a head full of ideas for stories, told lots of them verbally, drew pictures, etc - so it only seemed natural. I sent off books to several publishers, but got rejected. My first submission was a mystery about missing money at a dance school, which I sent to Scholastic. It was promptly rejected. I was only 10.



I'm not an actress, singer or dancer, but thanks to Amazon, Lulu and Smashwords, I am finally a published author!


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

I was a sickly fragile girl living in a landlocked country and I seriously wanted to become a sailor. Well, at least I now look at the sea from my window and still love boats


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## Asphodel (Jul 19, 2009)

I varied between wanting to be a teacher, astronaut, cowgirl, or Wonder Woman.

Now I work as project manager in the corporate world which I like well enough; it pays the bills while I work on my degree part-time, anyway.  Someday I'll finish my B.A. in English and maybe I'll even be able to pursue an advanced degree. My impossible, pie-in-the-sky dream is to be an English professor and author, but to accomplish that I would have to, you know, write something. 

Barring that, I'll be happy when I finish my degree.


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

I totally have the career I dreamed of as a kid, if not quite the level of success I imagined. Yet. LOL I decided at twelve to become a writer and that's what I am! 

Of course, at younger ages I also wanted to be a ballerina, an actress, a singer, a veterinarian, etc. Somehow I don't think I'll ever get around to all that.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

Asphodel said:


> I varied between wanting to be a teacher, astronaut, cowgirl, or Wonder Woman.
> 
> "...Now I work as project manager in the corporate world..."


Sounds like you made the Wonder Woman career ! Ha !


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

When I was 9 I wanted to be an archeologist and well, I'm not.  By the time I was fourteen I knew I wanted to be a writer though, so that panned out- finally!

Dawn


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

I wanted to be a nurse until I was 5 and read _Elizabeth Blackwell, the First Woman Doctor,_ and from that point on for years I wanted to be a doctor. Back then, not many women were accepted into medical schools, and it was usually necessary to have a lot of money and political connections. It wasn't until years later that I found out from my parents that we would have had the political connection. Unfortunately, we were just middle-class income people, and no one encouraged me to try to find a way to follow my dream. I had the grades that would have been necessary, but not the money. Oh, well, I was a 2nd grade teacher for 3 years, and have taught children with reading problems for 27 years, and it's been very gratifying. I'm retired but teaching half-time now, and most days, I come home having the feeling that I was needed. Can't beat that.


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