Predicting our child's future ...
By Ciniful
@Ciniful (1587)
Canada
November 15, 2007 10:24am CST
As a parent, you probably have a pretty good handle on the type of child you're raising. What do you see, realistically, in their futures?
I have five kids. I like to think I know them pretty well, and we all have very good, open and honest relationships. I often consider where they'll be 10, 20 or 40 years down the road, and I've always been pretty accurate at pinpointing which of my kids will pull which stunt.
For instance, I know that if any of my kids were to ever try smoking (gawd forbid) it would be my 11 year old daughter. That's not to say she WILL, just that if any of them were to try it, it would be her ... simply because she's rebellious, like me, and has to learn through first hand experiences, like me. Hopefully she avoids that step altogether, lol.
My 9 year old girl is the one I see travelling. If any of mine decide they need to see the world and disappear at 19 to go backpacking across Europe, it would definitely be her.
First car accident? That will be my 10 year old son. He's a car fanatic and has an affinity for anything that moves at light speed. *sigh*
So what are your psychic predictions for the future for your kids?
1 person likes this
1 response
@4monsters4me (2569)
• United States
15 Nov 07
I have actually thought through it before.
I think my oldest (7 now) will struggle with self esteem issues (we are already having troubles with her thinking she is "fat"--the girl is 7 and weighs 38lbs!) and will struggle through high school to find her place. She is so shy. She is just like I was as a kid (accept with the opposite weight problem, lol). But she will come into her own, realize she is an awesome person as she is. She is a talented artist but can't see it. She thinks her drawings are garbage. She creates the most wonderful little cartoons (her recent one was about Ted the T-rex and it was so cute and funny).
I "hope" she will draw on this strength and go into art, maybe become an illustrator or cartoonist. I think she will be the one to settle down later in life, after she has had a career and lived a little.
My son (6 right now) will probably go off to college and marry the first girlfriend he has. He loves kids. He adores his baby sister. Either he'll get married right away or he'll join the military. He is such a good and caring kid, he wants to protect everyone. I can totally picture him in the army.
My middle daughter is 5 and is my dreamer. She lives in her own little world still, oblivious to real life around her. She will probably be the strange girl in school that isn't afraid to wearing clashing colors and layers and never combs her hair. She is just such a free spirit. She loves music--has since she was a baby. She can't sing worth a lick, but maybe I can teach her to play an instrument (I'm thinking of getting her a guitar for Christmas). I can picture her being a preschool teacher, playing her guitar to the students. I also have a feeling she will have lots of kids.
My youngest daughter is only 19 months so her personality isn't fully formed yet. So far she is a mix of my other 3 kids. She is artistic like her oldest sister. She goes out of her way to find crayons and pencils and a tiny scrap of paper to draw on. She is always scribbling on something. She is funny and goofy like her brother. They are so much alike and she worships the ground he walks on. She seems to have this incessant urge to make people laugh. She is always making faces and just being silly. And she loves music like her other sister. The two of them can sit and watch a show with music in it forever (we watched Happy Feet today and she sat in my lap, glued to the TV for the whole thing--first time that ever happened).
I think she is going to be the kind of person that wants to go out and just help everyone she can. She will probably go into some kind of "help" field like nursing or teaching. I think she is going to be my rebellious one, the one that pushes the limits that were set for her older siblings. She is 3 1/2 years younger then her next sibling (4 1/2 years and almost 6 years younger then the other two). She'll probably explore all sorts of classes in school and not settle down until she has tried everything.
1 person likes this
@Ciniful (1587)
• Canada
16 Nov 07
It's nice to know I'm not the only mother who's pretty much mapped out their children's futures. I've spent a lot of time thinking about where I think they're headed, and can pretty much see the future ups AND downs they're likely to have.
My 12 year old is going to be the one who is completely success driven. He's sarcastic and goofy, but he's internally very serious about where he wants to be and how his life will end up. I see him getting into his architecture, just like he's planned, and possibly settling down after his career is settled, likely spending more time with his work that his kids out of some misguided notion that the money to provide for them is the most important thing. I don't know why I see this for him, but I do.
My 11 year old girl is a lot like you describe your 5 year old to be ... a free spirit. She's quiet and confident, but not afraid of anyone or anything and has to be herself ... whichever herself that is at the moment, lol. She's a natural with kids and animals, and she'll end up with a houseful of kids and just as many animals, lol.
My 10 year old .. stock car racer. He's the one who's likely to have some trouble all through school, dealing with kids teasing him about his disability, but he'll catch up in good time and realize he's not behind them anymore.
My 9 year old girl is rebellious, stubborn, pigheaded and an absolute hellraiser, and eerily enough, she's the one I see reaching the highest peak of success, simply because if she can channel that determination and stubbornness, there's nothing and noone that'll get in her way. I don't worry much about her future ... I worry about how many grey hairs she's going to cause me, lol.
The only one I can't actively picture a future for right now is my 6 year old son. I just don't have a clear picture in my head yet or where he'll be or what he'll be, but I know it'll involve trying to make people happy. He's such a little joker, and his main incentive is always to make the people around him laugh or smile. He can't be happy unless the people around him or happy. :)
@4monsters4me (2569)
• United States
16 Nov 07
Your 11 yo does sound like my 5yo. She loves animals, too. She LOVES dogs and is not afraid of them. It was very worrisome when she was a toddler and wanted to just walk up to any dog on the street. It was a struggle to balance wanting her to not be afraid to needing her to know to stay away from strange animals, you know. Her favorite stuffed animal is her dog, Mocha (a Jack Russel Terrier named for the neighbor's dog who is half Jack Russel and half Beagle).
I wrote the beginning of a fictional story once that was inspired by where I thought my kids would be in 20 years and how our relationship would be (it wasn't very good in the story--but it was all fictional). My oldest was distant with me (which will probably be true--we just butt heads on everything), married with 3 kids and stressed out trying to balance kids, work and her husband who seemed kind of mousy and always agreeing with her. But in the story a crisis comes up and she is the one that takes charge and controls everything. I think, even though she is a follower, faced with adversity she will step forward and be a leader.
My son, in the story, was a business man of some sort, recently engaged, just kind of getting by in life. He was still sorting out where he wanted to be.
My other daughter, though, was the most interesting and well defined character in the story. She was described as overweight (a horrible thing to imagine for your children but I'm way overweight and of all my kids I think she is the one that will carry the overweight gene) but unaware of how people see her. She "floats" instead of walks, is dreamy and spirited, looking much like a gypsy, always seeming frazzled but enjoying her lack of control of the world around her (very unlike me, lol). She was married and just had a baby so was even more "frazzled" looking. It was an interesting picture.
My youngest wasn't a glimmer in my eye when I wrote the story but I created other siblings for my kids and kind of went from there. It was a fun exercise. Using my kids as basis for characters.
