Positive parental influence can boost your child’s confidence when making career choices. The earliest, most powerful, learning about careers is shaped by the adults in a child’s life. Children also respond to career-related images on television and in other media. In daily life, you will find many opportunities to help your young child or teenager prepare for a great future.
We’ve identified nine parent-child activities for teenagers, primary school students and pre-schoolers.
Teenage activities
Activity 1: Recording your career story
You can help your child by taking time out to think about the ways your own career has developed. It can be fun to reminisce, and it will help you understand the events and people that have influenced your career. Having mapped your own career you will appreciate the influences that are shaping your child’s unique journey.
Create a timeline that records the highs and lows of your life, learning and work journeys. These prompts will help to get you started:
- your first career role-playing game, for example, police officer, nurse, teacher
- a significant school experience such as winning the spelling competition
- a significant family event such as moving house
- your first paid work
- someone whose job or life fascinated you
- your first full-time job and why you chose it
- someone who influenced the career direction you took
- the biggest career change you have made so far.
Reflect on your timeline, and share your dreams and your experience with your child. It will help them understand the ways in which the unexpected and planned events in your life influenced your career.
Your teenager may be inspired to draw their own timeline. They can talk with you about the people and situations that are currently influencing their decisions.
Activity 2: Exploring and developing career awareness through movie watching
Watch a movie together. Later – perhaps over a meal – discuss the different characters and their work/life roles. Think about what implications these might have for work and lifestyle choices.
Discuss aspects of the movie that might relate to your own or your child’s aspirations. You might spark discussion with the following questions:
- Has the movie changed any of your ideas about careers?
- Did it cast certain occupations in a positive light and others in a negative light?
- Was there any activity in the movie that made you say ‘I want to do that!’?
- Observe character traits and discuss which you see as positive and negative. What did you identify with and what did you feel distanced from?
- From the discussion, you might both decide on five character attributes that are most important to you. Consider how they might relate to your and your child’s career aspirations.
Activity 3: Decision-making
Decision-making is a critical part of career planning. Just like any other skill, it needs time and practice to master. Allow your child to make decisions and understand the flow-on effects that arise from them.
Involve your child in planning large events, such as a family holiday or gathering. Offer them genuine choices and make sure that their views are fully considered. Their confidence will grow as they develop this skill that will one day help them manage their own career.
Primary school student activities
Encourage your child to think about different occupations as you both do household activities together. Talk about the different roles that you or others have at home, at work and in the community.
Activity 4: Awareness of occupations
You could build a Lego neighbourhood or a town with houses, shops, garages and recreational spaces. In the process, talk about the different roles that people perform in the following places:
- office tower
- house
- shop
- movie theatre
- university
- school
- train station
- airport
- child care centre.
Or you could explore the many occupations involved in building a city, town, suburb or road. Ask your child to choose one of these roles that they would like to try out when they’re older. Remember to allow your child to dream.
Activity 5: Occupations out and about
Next time you visit a museum, local park or sport, science or environmental centre, talk about the work that people do there. You could discuss the knowledge and skills that people might need to make a piece of art, grow a garden or build a playground.
Activity 6: Alphabet careers
On a long car journey or walk together, pass the time by playing a variation of the alphabet game. This game could enhance your child’s occupation awareness.
Take turns in identifying an occupation that begins with each letter of the alphabet. Then discuss three skills or personal attributes that someone who chose this occupation would need. For example:
A for accountant, who would need to be:
- good at maths
- able to solve problems
- able to think logically.
B for butcher, who would need to be:
- polite and helpful
- good at using sharp knives
- careful and clean.
Pre-schooler activities
Your child starts to make decisions about work when he or she is very young. So it’s important to start planting seeds very early. Early childhood is a time when children’s play helps them to learn and grow. By joining in, you can extend their exploration of possible futures.
Activity 7: Dressing up
Gather together your (and other family members’) old clothes so that your child can play dress-ups. Encourage your child to put on different clothes for different occupational roles. It’s also fun to use the play tools that children often have today. For example:
- a gardener might use a lawnmower, wheelbarrow, shovels, watering can and a hat
- a teacher might use pens, paper, files, felt markers and a computer
- a shop assistant might work with a cash register and money.
Talk to your child about what a gardener/teacher/shop assistant does, as you join them in play. Through this simple activity, you’re supporting their early career development.
Activity 8: Watching TV shows and reading books
Watch educational children’s TV shows and read books together to find opportunities to explore occupations.
Activity 9: Talking about likes and dislikes
To help your child understand what has influenced your life, learning and work choices, you could play a game of ‘I like, you like’. Simply take turns to talk about activities that you really enjoy, for example:
Dad: I like cooking dinner.
Your child: I like planting flowers.
Mum: I like learning to use the computer.
Talk in positive ways about the work that you enjoy doing around the house or elsewhere. Doing so will help your child to develop positive skills about working, learning and living.
