By Haimanti Chatterjee (with inputs by Anshul Tewari):
Mrs. Banerjee does not eat or sleep much these days. An unknown fear grips her mind and soul. Her husband fears she is slowly moving towards the stage of depression. Neighbors console her but unable are to find the cause of her depression. At last she speaks her mind to the family physician where she goes for a heart check-up.
She couldn’t control her tears. She kept sobbing for about an hour. Dr. Sarma called the husband and asked about the family problems and also the problems related to their only son, Rishav. Mr Banerjee was astonished at the fact that the family physician knows more about the family issues. Mr Abhimanyu Banerjee had never thought that his only son was the reason of his mother’s illness and unhappiness. Rishav had always been quite good in studies but engineering does not interest him. Not that he is irregular in college, rather he goes to college everyday dropped by Abhimanyu while going to office. Rishav does not attend the classes, he does not understand what is said and done in class, says Rishav. ‘Engineering is not my choice’, says Rishav. Mrs Banerjee is extremely upset at the fact that her son is not able to compete with others in the subject. He does not understand the things, easily gripped by his friends.
This is not the problem of Mrs Banerjee but many mothers are spending sleepless nights who want their children to be the best, or if not best at least in the category of the second best. Or else how can they survive in this competitive world? Who will give them job? What will the society say? What will Mrs. Sharma, whose son is an IIT topper, say? Often parents whose children show little or no inclination towards studies, despair. This despair is worsened if the parents are not very wealthy or if they do not have a flourishing business to hand over to their child.
There are alternative occupations which does not require mainstream education which the parents tend to overlook and yet those are extremely important for the society. Naturally every parent wants the best for their child, and they want to see their children settled in good careers, earning a lot of money. But apart from standard careers that involve educational qualifications, there are various other career options available for your non-academically inclined child, many of which parents have never thought of or considered, or even realised exist as a real and lucrative option. Yes they are lucrative and there are many.
If you wish to take up an alternative career option it will not be easy to make your parents understand, but here are a few steps that could help:
- Push your parents to visit a career counselor who can, more than assisting you, assist your parents in believing that the career path you wish to choose might not be easy, but would be the best for you.
- Give examples of veterans who started low, like yourself, and made it big in the industry through sheer perseverance and hard-work.
- Showcase your talent and make them see how good you are at it.
- Give them a plan as to how you will earn a decent living with your alternative career, and till when you will try in case you don’t earn well initially.
- Tell them what back-ups you have? If you do not have a back-up and are convinced you will be great at the career of choice, then make a foolproof back-up plan. You never know when you would need one.
- Work really really hard to make the alternative work well for you, because you are convinced.
Feel free to add more points in the comments section below.
To know more about such careers and explore options click here.