“When I Grow Up” is Coming Faster Than I Imagined

Many years ago, there was a commercial about a mother watching her young son playing in the backyard. With each moment, she beams with pride as she gloats to the person next to her. The boy moves some dirt around and the mother gushes, “He’s going to work in construction.” Then the boy proceeds to form a mound and the mom smiles while saying, “Maybe he’ll be an architect.” Then the toddler continues to grab a fist full of dirt…and eat it. We then see her speechless and a bit embarrassed. It was quite cute and something that, as parent I can relate to.

“When I Grow Up”

As parents, we try to do all we can to encourage our children to have dreams and that they can be anything they want to. At one point, my daughter wanted to be a ballerina. That lasted about two lessons. Over time, those “when I grow up” goals have cycled through many variations – zookeeper, dog trainer, toy inventor, entrepreneur, fashion designer, the list goes on.

Now that she is older, those aspirations must be narrowed down to which can turn into feasible career paths. Next year Munchkin will be in high school. Crazy, right?! That means she’ll already have to have a good idea of what she wants to do to so she can choose studies relevant to that profession. After weighing many options, she’s decided on pursuing physical therapy. I think is great as she seems to have the stamina, the mental capacity, and the compassion to succeed in this.

I have a feeling that this will just be her day job though. My daughter has a creative side that has no boundaries. She’ll likely need to do something to fill that. Maybe she can moonlight as an author and illustrator of children’s books. Munchkin is pretty witty and can draw the most expressive stick figures you’ve ever seen!

We still have a few years before we’re at that point and we’re not in a rush to get there either. For now, my husband and I are more concerned with keeping her healthy and happy so she can keep her dreams alive. One way we do this is by making sure she gets enough fruits, veggies, and milk.

Got Milk! Helps Kids “Drink to a Brighter Future”

Got Milk? has a special campaign which focuses on the message “Drink to a Brighter Future“. This is fitting because milk helps kids build stronger bones, muscles, and teeth. By making good choices to take care of their bodies, kids can have the freedom to make other good choices for themselves as they get older.

I always tell my daughter about how I drank a lot of milk when young and, to this day, I have never fractured or broken a single bone. That’s despite my clumsy nature too! Frans and I also set the example by continuing to drink milk regularly. Both factors help Munchkin to do the same and the benefits show. At almost 14-years-old, she’s also still broken bone-free and rarely gets sick. Now she just needs to survive middle school so she can get on her way of being a physical therapist/children’s book creator!

What do your kids want to grow up to be?

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by ‘Got Milk?’ through their partnership with POPSUGAR. While I was compensated by POPSUGAR to write a post about ‘Got Milk?’, all opinions are my own.