Monday, April 13, 2009

What do people do all day?

 
Melissa's post on talking to her daughter about work and trying to help her understand what she does (and that she she has a job) reminded me of a conversation I had with Ada the other day. Out of nowhere she declared that she wants to be a mama when she grows up. I'm fine with that as a goal, but maybe not as her only goal. So I suggested: "Lots of people do more than one thing. You can be a mama and have another job too." I reminded her that I have a job, though explaining just exactly what "Senior Policy Analyst" means is not an easy task. Then again, it isn't so easy to explain to a 35 year old, much less to a 3.5 year old.

We talked about Chris, who is a papa and a math teacher. We talked about Ellen (mama and midwife), and Stephanie (mama and math teacher). Our neighbor Mark builds things and is a papa.

After considering what she must have seen as her options, Ada decided that she'd like to be a mama and a math teacher. "Like Stephanie," I said.

"Yes. But I would need my own office. Her office isn't big enough for both of us."

I guess it is good to plan ahead.

1 comment:

  1. 1. Reason #817 why I love Ada.
    2. Last summer, Ada declared that my office was "too messy" for her style of play.
    3. Does she know that math teachers get to eat math bars?

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