I noticed that we will often ask Toby "Would you like to do that job someday?" Whether it's when we're stopping for coffee, checking out at a grocery store, talking with fire fighters, or walking around the NPS campus we point out someone doing a certain job and pose the question to Toby (I don't think we've started doing this with Norah). He will often say something noncommittal, like "Maybe." I am not sure what goes through his mind when his parents ask him what kind of job he might want. Obviously (upon refection) we both are of the opinion that our kids will hold jobs some day. How early they'll be allowed to work, and how often, are still up for debate around here. But I think that we both had positive work experiences as teenagers and believe that it's an important part of growing up. We also point out that there are lots of people getting paid to do work so we don't have to it (like collecting the trash or busing a table at a restaurant). Conversations like this help us to gauge Toby's observations on the world around him.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
My Son's A Future "Jobber"
Toby and I had a conversation yesterday about jobs. He felt that if you needed/wanted a job you could just walk into any business and have any job you want. In his words, you could be a "gas station jobber" or a "wine store jobber" (the two businesses we happened to be driving by). This observation stemmed from an earlier conversation about a certain homeless person that we had noticed sitting at an intersection with a sign saying "Hungry Please Help." The man was on the same street corner the previous week. Toby seemed to think that he wouldn't be there much longer because he was going to get a job at one of the businesses on the street corner. Little conversations like this (and the fact that he says "jobber" instead of "worker") are what make this stage so interesting. He's grappling with a lot of new facets of the world around him, yet trying to understand them with a child's perspective leaves him with a semi-complete picture. But it's complete and concrete to him and thus, in his mind, perfectly plain and simple.
I noticed that we will often ask Toby "Would you like to do that job someday?" Whether it's when we're stopping for coffee, checking out at a grocery store, talking with fire fighters, or walking around the NPS campus we point out someone doing a certain job and pose the question to Toby (I don't think we've started doing this with Norah). He will often say something noncommittal, like "Maybe." I am not sure what goes through his mind when his parents ask him what kind of job he might want. Obviously (upon refection) we both are of the opinion that our kids will hold jobs some day. How early they'll be allowed to work, and how often, are still up for debate around here. But I think that we both had positive work experiences as teenagers and believe that it's an important part of growing up. We also point out that there are lots of people getting paid to do work so we don't have to it (like collecting the trash or busing a table at a restaurant). Conversations like this help us to gauge Toby's observations on the world around him.
I noticed that we will often ask Toby "Would you like to do that job someday?" Whether it's when we're stopping for coffee, checking out at a grocery store, talking with fire fighters, or walking around the NPS campus we point out someone doing a certain job and pose the question to Toby (I don't think we've started doing this with Norah). He will often say something noncommittal, like "Maybe." I am not sure what goes through his mind when his parents ask him what kind of job he might want. Obviously (upon refection) we both are of the opinion that our kids will hold jobs some day. How early they'll be allowed to work, and how often, are still up for debate around here. But I think that we both had positive work experiences as teenagers and believe that it's an important part of growing up. We also point out that there are lots of people getting paid to do work so we don't have to it (like collecting the trash or busing a table at a restaurant). Conversations like this help us to gauge Toby's observations on the world around him.
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