Career plans

Sydney "graduates" from kindergarten later this week (she'll still have two more weeks of school, but the special ceremony the teachers put together to make parents all emotional and weepy eyed is this Friday.) As part of the show, each child walks across the stage and says their name, their favorite thing about kindergarten and what they want to be when they grow up.

When AJ was in kindergarten, he planned to do about a dozen different occupations. Sydney, perhaps influenced by her brother's ever-changing career plans, has taken a wait and see approach. "There's lots of time to decide," she's told me, demonstrating wisdom beyond her years.

Until about two weeks ago. Suddenly she figured out her purpose in life. My brilliant and talented child wants to be... drum roll please... 

A super model.

Please know that I've done nothing to encourage this. Though I quickly tried to find some good in this.

"Mommy," she asks, "Can I have an Oreo?"

"Not if you want to be a supermodel. They only eat super healthy food."

"Can I have some fruit then?"

"That's a much better idea."

Then, the child who likes to demonstrate how to catch snowflakes on her tongue, showed me something new last night - an art technique that I'm assuming she learned in school. And suddenly I see three possible career paths for her. Take a look:

Perhaps she'll be an art teacher like her Grandpa David. Or with that ability to demonstrate and then jump to the finished product, perhaps she'll be the host of her own cooking show. Or, using that technique, maybe she'll become a psychologist and create her own Rorshack test.

I don't want to discourage her dreams, but knowing how much she hates sitting still to have her hair combed, I don't see her lasting long in the modeling industry.

P.S. Grandpa David, if Sydney should happen to give you one of these masterpieces this weekend, remember to act surprised.