What Did You Want To Be When You Grew Up?
This is the question I started off asking myself today. I ended up putting it out there on Facebook, and to my total surprise got a loooooad of amazing answers (all of which I will share at some stage, possibly in piechart form).
As an adult that works with children on a regular basis, it's a question I always hesitate to ask.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
As if there is but one almighty answer, and it should be practical, achievable and within the realms of your given talents and abilities. The tubby fat boy can't say Olympian. The speckie freckly ginger girl can't say model. The dumb kid should avoid saying Doctor and no one can say astronaut, because whats the point? Our adult cynical selves might think.
"A dinosaur" a child might respond, and we might reply "Aw that's sweet, but no, what really?"
The question it's self also alludes a greater more philosophical view point that perhaps we shouldn't really be any one thing. But the obvious nature of our indoctrinated predetermination from gender (boys = blue and army. Girls = pink and barbie) to race, from sexuality (You're a male nurse... And you're straight, right?!) to nationality influence our place within the social and economical structures we live and exist in. Career planning, mortgages, lifestyle, location they all revolve around this predetermination. From being asked this question in Primary School to doing Work Experience in Secondary School.
Regardless of whether or not you think the question is a good one (and there is an awesome TED Talk all about it by Emili Wapnick, check it out here) it's one we've probably all been asked and all have an answer for.
I didn't want to be a "theatre maker", mainly because I didn't know what that was, but I didn't want to be an actor or a performer or an entertainer or even an artist really.
I wanted to be one specific man from an insert out of the Kays Catalogue. He was tall, blonde, roguishly handsome, clean cut and clean shaven. He was in a full grey suit with a blue tie, holding briefcase and was in mid-stroll down a busy high-street. I found a similar looking location in my local town of Oswestry and used to actually fantasise about being this man when I was older, to the point I almost convinced myself the man in the catalogue was my older self. I imagined and measured my future success based on how close to that image I would come. I wanted the smarts for business and the looks for lady hunting. I wanted the papers and files that would fill the briefcase, and one of those huge mobile phones I'd seen in a movie once. I wanted to be a man about town, a busy city slicker with leather belt and some extremely shiny loafers.
That's the thing I remember wanting to be most vividly, but the absolute truth is the answer would forever change. Sometimes I wanted to be a vet, sometimes an astronaut, sometimes a ballet dancer sometimes a cowboy. My friend Steph will tell you the very first thing I ever wanted to be (and I think we must have been about 4 years old when I said this) was a duck. Yurp.
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| This isn't me as a child, I mean, I fucking wish, right?! |
I am not what I wanted to be.
...
I've had such fun thinking and writing about this question today. I'd like to DEEEEEPLY thank everyone who put an answer on Facebook. It was really, really, really helpful and it's a strand of this research I'm definitely going to continue.
Without further ado...
Please enjoy this short educational video on the subject, and until next time: Heart and Star.
Mucho,
J
