One of the biggest choices we have to make in our lives as adults is deliberating upon our career paths. From the beginning of time, human beings have been free-willed animals who had the capacity to exercise such choices through free will and intelligence. The emergence of a caste-based society in India developed in the later Vedic period of India and shaped the professional lives of individuals by restricting their careers to traditional, and often rigid, occupational structures.
Modern Indian society is more aware of caste practices and especially in urban centres, there is rising flexibility in taking up professions other than what is prescribed by our caste. Hence, young adults require guidance from their parents when it comes to choosing professions and thus play a crucial role in mentorship and support for the future of their children.
In his book Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki clearly mentions the fact that a parent has an important role to play in building the financial foundation of our lives. He also stated that a rich dad not only succeeds in building this foundation but also teaches his kids to differentiate between an asset and a liability, emphasising greatly on building strong assets. As a result, a rich dad always succeeds in making his kids well-established. What we can infer from this is the realisation that a parent can work as an amazing guide for their kids in their field of expertise.
But a crucial question to ask here is whether one always wants a transactional career choice. Even if our parents foresee a financially prosperous and secure career for us, do they really have a bigger part to play in our career choices? In a utopian world, the answer will always be no. For a person to actually achieve their highest potential in their career and life, they must invest all of their energy into it.
According to American analytics and advisory company Gallup, 87% of employees worldwide are not truly engaged in their work. Amongst many reasons such as lack of sincerity or poor work culture and wages, the most significant cause is the internal lack of passion. Thus, self-actualisation of one’s own interest is an important process in a person’s professional life, in which a parent has a limited role to play other than that of supporting their child’s life choices.
A few effective ways for the parents to play a healthy role in their child’s career choices can be by ensuring professional help from a career counsellor and mentor, comforting their child with enough mental support and not pressurising them to choose traditional career paths. Parents are the backbone of a child’s healthy life, and without their approval and support, it is impossible for the child to do their best in life regardless of what they choose for themselves.