When I grow up I want to be ...........

G

Glowworm

Senior Member
Location
Sweden
Nowadays when you ask children what they want to be when they grow up they say Youtuber, influencer or something similar. What happened to firefighter or nurse?

So when you were a child what did you want to be when you grew up and did you fulfill your dream?

I wanted to become a nurse so I could help other people like me and no I didn't become a nurse.
 

When I lost my way to becoming a successful painter or illustrator, I decided to become a teacher. Then life took a couple of tragic turns and I left college. Kept thinking I'd go back but I didn't, so I just became an average working man. But I raised 3 very admirable people, so I did alright. No regrets.
 
Murrmurr said:
When I lost my way to becoming a successful painter or illustrator, I decided to become a teacher. Then life took a couple of tragic turns and I left college. Kept thinking I'd go back but I didn't, so I just became an average working man. But I raised 3 very admirable people, so I did alright. No regrets.
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Average working man ?... it's you and the other multi million average working men who held up America on their shoulders... take a bow!!
 
The generation that I was born into had to
follow their father into the same job, maybe
the thinking was that the father would further
the training at home, unfortunately my father
worked in India, so I had to train myself, I still
became an engineer though.

I never had any other ambitions until after I was
qualified, then I tried some different jobs.

Mike.
 
chic said:
First, I wanted to be a nun. Product of parochial school. This did not last long because I really didn't like their uniforms or the haircut. I had nightmares about what was under that veil. šŸ¤—

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As a small boy, I wanted to be a priest. That was probably to impress the teachers at my catholic school. Today I have learned about the shenanigans of The Vatican. Did you know that catholic clergy could, for the first eleven hundred years, get married?

My friends and I enjoyed watching the steam trains but I never hankered about driving one. I did learn to dance though, when quite young and tried to make it as a professional, some hope.

A fortunate turn of circumstance led me into management and onto the greasy pole. It was a lucky break.
 
As a preteen I wanted to be a marine biologist. By the time I graduated from college that had morphed into a degree in freshwater aquatic biology. There were very few jobs in the field at that time and the pay was generally pretty low so I ended up pursuing a career in environmental chemistry and environmental program management.

If I had it to do again, I'd become a cowboy or a fireman. :unsure:
 
When I grew up I wanted to be a star player in the NBA. I guess that would be the equivalent today of those kids who want to be a Youtubber or an influencer. As I got into high school my goal was to be an accountant as some type of business degree was expected for most guys who went on to college. Thankfully through a twist of fate I switched to Business stats my freshman year which led me into a wild and fun 40 year adventure in the tech field.

There are not many young people in the condo complex that I live in but I do know a couple of young girls in their twenties who live here and they are currently going to school to pursue a job in the nursing field, I thank them just about every time I see them. The job market has changed a lot since we were young and I do know that some who are young have dreams of making money with Youtube or something similar but when I was young I knew many at school who wanted to become a popular singer or actor, or in my case, an athlete. Not much different than wanting to becoming a Youtube star.
 

When I grow up I want to be ...........​


Y'know, its funny
This subject pops up about twice a year, seems

But. hey
Newbies come....geezers go....

always a good subject

I've posted this a least twice
.....so, to keep the pace, here it is again;

Almost a Cop​


When I was about four or maybe five, all I wanted to become was a cop.
Not a Dragnet, Sgt Friday cop, but one that wore the blue, the boots, the service cap, the badge, theā€¦gunā€¦and holster.
OH YEAAAH
Not a doubt in my mind.
Thing is, I was never around cops per se, at least not for a few years.
So all I had for ready reference was the local service station guy. The ā€˜almost a copā€™ guy.
He had a uniform, and if I recall, had some sorta badge.
And he had a service cap. The one with the glossy bill, and high rise front.
Yeah, he was almost a cop.

de9a5fef19e2555bcfd40feacb2c84cc.jpg

I always liked stopping there.

ā€˜Fillā€™er up?
ā€˜Ethyl?ā€™

Heā€™d get the pump going, cranking the numbers to zero, sticking the nozzle in, flipping the lever, filling the back seat with the glorious aroma of gas fumes of which I breathed deep (couldnā€™t get enough).

ā€˜Check ā€˜at oil?ā€™

He lifted the hood and didā€¦.something, appearing at the driverā€™s door, showing Dad the dip stick, resting it in display on a really cool red rag, then tucking that rag in his back pocket. Letting half of it stick outā€¦ā€¦cool.
Sometimes heā€™d go to the rack of oil, grab wunna the glass bottles with a stainless steel spout, and pour in a bit of oil.
Then heā€™d spray the windshield with some sorta soapy liquid, wiping all that off with the magic blue towel until the grime and streaks was totally gone. All the while talking about the weather or the ā€˜goddamm Yankeesā€™, or Joe Louis.
And he had BOā€¦yeah, real big guy aromaā€¦..wow.
Man, I wanted to be him, only Iā€™d strap on a gun, as that was the only thing his was missing.
What a cool job!
Just doinā€™ that all day long.
ā€˜Check ā€˜at oil?ā€™
ā€˜Whuddaya think about them goddamm Yankees?ā€™
tuck
wipe
pump
ā€¦.kids in the back seat, lookinā€™ at me in aweā€¦wide eyes ogling my holsterā€¦and ivory gun handleā€¦.and red rag.

One day me and Dad were headinā€™ down the road.
Just him and me,
and he sez, ā€˜Whaddya wanna be when you grow up?ā€™

ā€˜A service station guy!ā€™

Things kinda turned south right then.
Dads.
Go figure.
Whud he do for a living? Work in a warehouse?
Prolly jealous.
p0ut.jpg

After that, I never shared my true thoughts with himā€¦.for yearsā€¦.decades maybe.

Heh, turns out folks rather frown on service stations guysā€¦.with guns.

But, hey, if that ever happensā€¦ā€¦..
 
I think I wanted to be too many things - locomotive driver, pilot, mathematician, teacher, engineer, etc. Tried and did a good number of these but always gravitated towards computer-related job, having put myself through college working with computers at night. Retired as director of engineering after having a number of different jobs and occupations When a job got to be no longer interesting, challenging and/or fun, I moved on, making for an interesting work life and a wide variety of experiences. Not sure I'd change anything,.
 
chic said:
First, I wanted to be a nun. Product of parochial school. This did not last long because I really didn't like their uniforms or the haircut. I had nightmares about what was under that veil. šŸ¤—

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:eek:
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We got visits by certain religious orders telling us about their organization and urging us to consider that life. We left school pumped up with that in our minds. It lasted about 1/2 hour, and we went back to being kids again.
 
I remember being four years old and a lady badgering me, asking over and over what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told her I wanted to grow up to be a lady .She laughed and said everyone was a lady. I said, "No, not everyone. I want to be a lovely lady like my Mother."

Unfortunatly, No preperation was given girls at the time to be anything other than a mindless wife. I think I grew up believing I couldn't do anything. I'm a late bloomer!
 
When I was growing up I wanted to become a nurse. On my Mom's side of the family, I had 5 cousins that became nurses. I met my husband at 15 yrs old and we married when I was 20yrs old. I decided I would rather be a stay-at-home Mom and raise my kids. I worked on the phone for an accounting company getting new customers for them. Then when my daughter was in college she decided she wanted to be a nurse. So she followed through on her dream and worked at a Children's Hospital. She did a wonderful job and loved every child she cared for. Now she teaches an autistic boy in school.
 
Like someone mentioned earlier in the thread, I followed in my dad's footsteps. After my 4 years of military obligation, got my degree in civil engineering and spent most of my career as a construction supervisor on different sections of our interstate highway system.

Each project would last 2 - 3 years and it would be on to another section. I still drive over some of these highway portions today and can remember when they were fields, farms, or residential areas and the sadness of tearing down some very nice homes and outbuilding to make way for the highway.
 
Glowworm said:
Nowadays when you ask children what they want to be when they grow up they say Youtuber, influencer or something similar. What happened to firefighter or nurse?

So when you were a child what did you want to be when you grew up and did you fulfill your dream?

I wanted to become a nurse so I could help other people like me and no I didn't become a nurse.
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As a young child I always wanted to be a mommy, nothing more, nothing less. Having grown up in a home with baby siblings and helping my mom with their care, I can understand why my mind never wandered far past that dream.

As for my husband, he's a real character, and he loves to pull people's legs, and to this day he'll look at people... complete and utter strangers, and with a straight face and in all seriousness he'll tell them, "when I grow up I want to be a garbage truck driver".

Now keep in mind that he's a big strapping man built like a football player, and nothing sounds sillier, and he has a ball with it. You can't help but laugh.
 

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