What was your childhood Dream? Is it ok to ask your kids the same question?

 

Again this article is based on my perspective & experience!

I thought of writing this when my friend shared this meme in our whatsapp group tagging my name😆. Only Few years back (2016 to be exact) I realised that my dream of becoming an Astronaut will never become true. 

Let me brief in a line about my path to not becoming an Astronaut- actually it might be the same thing for everyone with some childhood dream.

Dream in schooling- Astronaut, Desire in college- Automobile Engineer, Current designation- Business Development Manager

In these 3 phases, I didn't realise until I reached the 3rd phase that to achieve my dream I should have corrected my path in the 2nd phase itself and have to be prepared myself much more than my current level. But I followed the crowd. 

Ok. Let go of the past, it's not a new story it happens in most of our life. Most of us have childhood dreams that didn't come true. 

The reason for writing this article is to convey my view point on having a Dream in childhood. And since I'm a 90's kid, most of the 90's kid have kids (they become dad) now so they have to be careful in asking their kids the right question, giving right knowledge so that their kids can choose their path and start having a clear vision in their life. 

Because nowadays having a dream like becoming an Astronaut is not a big thing to achieve as in few years space tourism is set to begin!😉

I got this reference from an Youtube video and from the Book of Simon Sinek's "Start with Why"

First thing, (I've already mentioned this in my previous article) Don't teach your kids A for Apple. If they say so, ask them why it has to be Apple why not something else. Literally I should have been trained like A for Astronaut but our generation recites what we were taught in school. 

Because that's the first step in triggering their little minds to Think. "The primary purpose of Education is training your mind to Think"- Einstein.

Second thing, If your kid wants to become a doctor ask them WHY and find the root cause for that desire. Whether its because of recent pandemic? or to cure Dengue? or to help poor people with medication? or just because of their classmate's dream?

Because the root cause of that desire should inspire them, should get them goosebumps to conclude their Dream. To find that root cause, instead of asking "what do you want to become in future?"

Ask them, What problem do you want to address/solve in this world? It can be anything like pollution, finding cure for COVID, traffic congestion, drainage management etc., 

Because today's kids are exposed to world with smartphones more than us, they know the world more than us. And moreover they know how to search, explore and find answers with the opportunities they have.

Now to my story, Most of my friends know my dream was to become an Astronaut because I kept chatting with them about space. I'm happy that it inspired them a little. But currently I'm not depressed of not becoming an Astronaut because I found my WHY.

 

I wanted to become an Astronaut for two reasons. First, In my schooling I was asked to write about my native where we wrote about the people, occupation etc., but I found that my native is not that popular as it's a small village and only people in our district knows about it. 

Second, I watched a video in Doordarshan in which they showed Neil Armstrong landing on moon and at the same time in our English book we had a lesson about Kalpana Chawla and in that her native was mentioned. The whole India knows about her native. 

That inspired me to become an Astronaut which was to make my village world famous and to inspire others like Neil Armstrong did to me. And as a kid I thought going to space is the only way to make it famous. The reason might be silly but I was firm about it.

Later I realised that in my current Job, I can inspire & impact the lives of many people. (you can read my article, Is it worth Spending 6 yrs in a small company? to know about my Job)

 Now to make my village famous, I'm writing this blog in my village name. 

 Don't take your kids dream for granted, find the cause of what inspires your kid to have a dream that makes their journey memorable. 

(For your knowledge, While I'm writing this article, the mars perseverance rover launched by NASA is about to land on Mars after 7 months of journey)