As a child, anything seems possible. Before realizing the harsh reality of paying bills, taking out student loans, and submitting job applications that get tossed in the trash, we believe that we can grow up to be anything. I love remembering my elementary school-self and all of the glorious plans she had for the future that never came to fruition (where is my mansion?). Between the ages of five and ten, I went through approximately 10,000 career choices before settling on... nothing because I have a crippling fear of commitment to my choices and I love to keep doors open in case I hate a decision that I'm leaning towards, which I often do.
Here are five careers that every child, including me, pined for at one time or another!
1. Dancer/Ballerina
Mirza Causevic
Had I ever taken a dance lesson? No. Did that stop me from thinking that I had an innate ability to become a world-famous dancer? Absolutely not.
Six-year-old me thought that the only skills dancing required were an ability to tap your toes and flail your arms around. Dancing seemed like such a luxurious career, traveling the world as a back-up dancer to a famous singer and just completely letting loose on stage to some sick tunes. It's not hard to imagine why a kid would be drawn to this idea. In fact, I kept up a whole charade for my entire fourth grade year that I was the best tap dancer in the state but had permanently hurt my foot and couldn't demonstrate my prowess when asked to. My classmates believed me. Or played along because they pitied me for believed me. You decide!
2. Astronaut
Niketh Vellanki
Ah yes, a classic. If you tell me that you've never once wanted to become an astronaut, I won't believe you.
Picture this: you're in third grade. The lesson in science today is about the planets and it's sweet. You learn that Jupiter is humongous and your head hurts from trying to grasp its size. Your teacher pulls out fruits to represent the planets and you think it's kind of gross that Mars is sprouting spores but okay. You look at pictures of Saturn and its rings, Pluto (rip) and its cute miniature stature. You're pumped. There's a whole bunch of things in space, just hanging around, waiting to be explored? That's it, that's your calling. You're going to become an astronaut and be the first human to walk on Mars.
Then the teacher assigns homework on space and you decide space sucks.
3. Teacher
Woodley Wonderworks
I think that the reason almost every little kid wants to become a teacher at some point is because they envy the amount of authority their teacher holds in the classroom.
When I was in elementary school, teachers seemed like royalty to me. They made all of the rules and could discipline students on a whim. One day in fifth grade, my class decided to race each other through the hallway when coming back to class from lunch. When we finally reached the classroom and turned around to face our teacher, who was trying to catch up, she simply walked past us into the room and said "No recess today," then sat down and took a sip of her coffee.
What an absolute boss.
Even though most of us have probably ended up with career goals that our elementary school selves would be disappointed in (a 9-5 office job doesn't sound cool to anyone), it's always fun to remember the dreams that we had.
