Monday, January 23, 2012

Job Opportunities... that I hope they will pass up.

As usual, I've been looking at my girls and thinking about how much older they seem than a year ago... or even a few months ago... or heck, last week even. Where does the time go?

While the days are flying by, some things have changed and some things have stayed the same. Changed? Much more independence and less of my help needed for things like getting a glass of water or putting on shoes and zipping up coats. The same? A love of school, sisterly competition and Big Sister E's desire to be a teacher when she grows up.

And while I tell her all the time that she can be whatever she dreams of being when she gets older, there are moments when I'll have a flash of a random job and think: no. Nope, I wouldn't be okay with that one. Some are what you'd call normal or traditional and some? I don't know where these pop into my head from, but here are five professions I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like to see either of my kids grow up to be...

1. Coal Miner.

We've all heard the stories. I know that the percentage of times miners that actually get trapped is extremely small compared to how many times they dig into the earth, but I just couldn't handle knowing that my kids could be stuck under there.

2. Roofer.

We had our roof replaced this past summer (thank you, hail storm) and, let me tell you, our roof is steep with a capital S. The entire time I heard them hammering away up there I just kept hoping that I wouldn't hear the sounds of anyone slipping and falling because that's a long way down.

As well as our roof, nearly the entire neighborhood (and quite a few surrounding areas) had their roofs replaced as well. It seemed like every time we drove somewhere I would see those hardworking roofers up there in all kinds of weather, including the blazing sun. It just doesn't seem like something that would let me rest easy at night if I knew my kids were up there.

3. Umpire.

I'm sure it would be great and all (especially for my husband if it meant he could go see more sports), but have you seen the abuse that umpires for professional sports have to endure? Players are yelling at them, coaches are screaming from the sidelines, and disgruntled fans? Oh man, no. No way that I want my kids in the path of those crazies.

4. Stunt person.

Do they just have a serious accident attorney on call? I find it hard to imagine that someone could light themselves on fire, crash a motorcycle, jump out of a window, and fall down a flight of stairs day in and day out and not get hurt. I get that they're trained for that sort of thing, but still. I'd probably have to have a report on all upcoming stunts so that I could have my motorcycle accident attorney on retainer just to calm my nerves.

5. Taxi driver.

On top of the extremely low salary, did you know that deaths among taxi drivers are about evenly split between traffic accidents and assaults/violent acts... except that there are actually more fatalities due to assaults? Who gets out of a cab and kills the driver? Was the ride that bad? No, thanks. Let's skip this one too, please.


There is obviously no "safe" profession (I'm sure anyone could come up with risks to every job out there!) and each year seems to bring about more stories that indicate that Big Sister E's chosen teaching career is far from being free of danger. All I can really do, of course, is hope that my girls end up happy, healthy and as far as possible from any harm. What more could a mother want?

What jobs would you like to see your children veer away from?

2 comments:

Lisa Noel said...

my oldest has ref/ump on his back up list. He wants to play professional sports. If he can't do that he wants to do something that allows him to paid to attend pro sports, a ref or possibly a sports photographer! :)

Jenny said...

You are so good at writing posts! Abby says she's going to be a singer and work at a restaurant.

She used to say she was going to work at Target, so she could buy whatever she wanted. LOL!

I only think that whatever job she has is fine, as long as she doesn't move away!