Reasons: Why Should Parents Not Decide On Their Child's Career?

In this article, I will explain this topic with a balanced approach. I have discussed this question with three generations, and the responses were quite similar. This article explains why parents should not solely decide their child's career.

We, humans, are protective by nature. We do not want our coming generations to go through what we already have. It is like parents wanting the best for their children; there is nothing wrong with it. They want the best environment, facilities, clothes, and nutritional food; the most important is the best education for their children. But, it is a little bit more complex when deciding what is best for their children's careers. It is very tough for parents to decide on their children's education path, especially when they pass out of school, because, at this crucial age, most children have not yet discovered their true interests.

No wonder many students do not have any logical or satisfactory answer when they are asked about their choice of a particular course or subject in college. Most college students will probably answer because it is what their parents wanted them to do or were advised about it.

Parents have knowledge and experience about the world. They have seen the good and bad situations and what they know about their child's interests and talents to guide them to the career and path that suits them best.

Parents recognise their child's special talents and guide them to a successful career choices. However, this does not work out well every time. Children become a rebel against their parents at some time during puberty, when these choices need to be made.

Saroj (48), Haryana, says, "Indeed it was a difficult time for us parents when deciding our children's careers. There was a time when my father wanted me to do LLB, but I could not pursue his dream due to family issues. Undoubtedly, I wanted my youngest daughter to pursue the same, which I regret to date. But fortunately, my daughter confronted what she wanted to do and what made her happy. And I understood. I am grateful that all three children are happy and successful with their choices."

Kishan (26), Lucknow, says, "I think parents should show direction to the child, but they should not be the deciding authority for children. I wanted to do Computer Sciences, and my parents wanted me to pursue Mechanical Engineering and guess what? I ended up being a content writer. I do not think justice was done to my right to choose my career. "

Ajay (38), Bengaluru, says, "Now that perspective, surroundings, technology, scopes of education is getting widened. It is best to guide your child about career options while considering their interests. Career counselling is also an option nowadays. Avoid Comparing your child to others. Let your child be responsible and decide for themselves."

Parents: Biggest Influence On Child

Parents act as an influential factor in the career choices of the children. The world, technology, thinking and almost everything are changing at high speed and the choices. As a fact, the real-world experience of parents can't be ignored; children observe and learn from parents a lot. Either they want to be like their parents, or they differ greatly.
Parents have a desire and their children should achieve excellence everywhere, whether in sports, academics, or careers. But they forget that a child can make a good career in whichever field it goes by simply following their passion. Choosing the career path should be left to the students so they can make their lives fruitful. If the child chooses the path, he stays oriented towards the end goal. The bigger problem is the miscommunication between parents and children.

Reasons: Parents Should Not Choose The Career Of Their Children

Somewhere parents apply their life experiences while guiding their children. Some of the common reasons are as follows:
1. Desire Of Parents: Parents usually do their best to provide the best nurturing to their children. Parents suffer a lot of difficulties and bring up their kids so they can live healthy and happier lives. Every parent wishes to see their child well settled in their life, but in this process, parents ignore what their child wants.

2. Pressure on children: Thinking of making a suitable career takes a serious note, mostly during exam times. Children should leave their career choice to their parents and must focus on their ongoing exams. They should not be under any pressure.

3. Protective nature: Children may sometimes make wrong career decisions. And at this point, parents become overprotective of their children. They think that what they will decide for their child is best.

4. Harsh Truth: Parents support their kids by guiding them and choosing their career paths. No parents would like to spoil their child's future by taking the wrong decision, but parents have seen the harsh truth of life, so they try to choose the best career for their child.

5. Experience: Children should always remember that parents are much more experienced than children. Parents are usually influenced by market trends rather than focusing on their child's aptitude or skills.

Why Children Should Choose Their Careers?

1. Know themselves best- A child knows his interests better than anyone else. He knows his favourite subjects and areas of interest and, thus, can decide his career path easily.

2. Passion- If children choose a career according to their parent's wishes, they will have a boring academic life as they would face a lack of interest.

3. Feel Pressure- If a child follows a career path chosen by her parents and which is not of interest, they will have to face many challenges and pressure. However, to avoid such situations, choose a career which interests you the most.

Parents want to see their children settle in fruitful and economically viable careers, and it often leads to decisions that can be shortsighted, where parents get advice from fellow parents, relatives or the Internet and insist that their children follow the same. But this is not a healthy practice to follow.

Conclusion

Parents might also have had some dreams in their teenage just like their kids. Some parents fail to achieve their dreams due to some or other issues. In such scenarios, parents want their kids to adopt their dreams. They wish to see the fulfilled dream in their kids' lives.

It is always better that parents and children should decide together on the career they would pursue. Parents should guide their children and tell the possibilities of their careers. The children can get information about their interests while the parents can get their practical experience to the table to decide.