What to be when I grow up

Parent Cafe
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<p>It may be a little different for drdrewsmom, who DID accomplish something big recently (congratulations on your BA!), but I also think seeing our children poised to take that big, exhilarating step towards college and their future, makes us (or maybe just me?) step back and wonder “what am I doing?”</p>

<p>If I could do it all over again, I’d take a cue from my own son and work a heck of a lot harder than I did in high school, take more advantage of what was offered, and do the same in college (and I wouldn’t let the science courses scare me off!). Since that’s not possible, I’m really trying to get an idea of what the heck I CAN do. I like latetoschool’s advice. A friend of mine also suggested “lurking” and watching for situations you may have overlooked before.
This is a great topic-- thanks</p>

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<p>This thread is so interesting, and timely, for me. I’ve been a SAHM for the past decade, my youngest is getting old enough and I’m approaching the age where I’m feeling that I can contribute more (and get more fulfillment) with a career (outside my home) to pursue. The funny thing is, just like WashDad and lspf72, I also have really enjoyed this college search w/ my oldest (and am looking forward to beginning again with D2) so much and I am so intrigued by the admissions, that one of my daughters keeps teasing me that I should try to get a job in college admissions, or something related to that. If only I had the background…</p>

<p>Good luck with your career path, DrDrewsmom!</p>

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<p>you guys are great! And believe me when I say I TOTALLY do not mind hijacks (I am guilty of them myself all the time :o ). I was curious what the car was too, and was picturing that BMW from Mission Impossible 2. </p>

<p>Anyway, I think many things have triggered it lately. My husband’s best friend just died a few days ago, which naturally makes me think about “what’s important” and all that. And (I have admitted this on another thread) I am approaching a milestone birthday (one ending with a zero) and that seems to always get people taking stock of life. Or maybe just me.
I did consider an admissions position at a local school after our move! lspf, I also enjoyed researching all the schools for my older son and thought it might be cool to do it every day. I don’t think I could do the school counselor thing though; they also have to deal with really obnoxious kids and their parents, who of course don’t think their kids have ever done anything wrong. I know I could not handle that.</p>

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<p>DrDrewsmom, if you enjoyed the research component of the college process for your son, you might want to consider how that process might be profitable in other fields. Forget about college for the moment - that’s where your inclinations would naturally steer, because that is the environment where you have spent significant time recently, both in completing your own degree and supporting your son on his path to achieve his. </p>

<p>But the need is far greater. Today, most people are buried in entirely too much data, but they have no where near enough information. </p>

<p>If you look at just this board, for example, I’m wanting to buy an Apple computer and researching via the brains here; Mini has questions about a stove; someone else needs travel information, someone else still needs Bat Mitzvah recommendations, and so on. If you comb through the last several pages of this thread, you’ll see that approximately 30% of the threads are requests for pure information about how or what to buy, or how to leverage time to bring about a certain result. And almost all are requests for facts, vs. requests for opinions. </p>

<p>Not what CC was originally intended for, of course, and google is a fairly decent tool. And books and periodicals on the same subject matter can be had on every street corner, or a few mouse clicks away. But still the inquries on CC: that says something about (1) trust in people over time, even if one has never met the specific people in person and likely never will, and doesn’t even know their real names; (2) the sustaining need for credible, real-time information in almost every imaginable industry space. </p>

<p>Information resulting from research is profitable as well: the sunk costs are on the front end, and the result set can be “sold”, over and over again, until it begins to degrade. </p>

<p>So, if you think it would be cool to do research on colleges every day, are there other areas - industries, products, services, that you would enjoy as much, or more, and that you might also enjoy every day?</p>

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<p>lateto school:</p>

<p>That is a really interesting observation; every one in my family comes to me to do the research and find answers, generally online, to their needs and I seem to able to emulate the twisted mindset of the people who write websites and am able to find tiny little details which my friends and family need in order to best accomplish their goals…the question is, How do you get any one to pay you for such brilliance? Then DrD and I can go into business!</p>

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<p>somemom-the same goes for me; I am the queen of research. My friends use to tease me (precomputer) that I was always able to find whatever they were looking for cheaper and quicker. I think it was because I had too much time on my hands, but I would love to be able to market myself for a paying job in that field. What would be great is if I could still do this all from home in my pj’s; ok, I would get dress at some point, just not at 6:00am!!</p>

<p>I have loved the college search for my kids and have helped out a few friends. I did look at working in the admissions office of a local college to work with the applicants as I became frustrated with those that answered the phones in admissions and knew next to nothing. I wanted the student calling for information to get just the information they were looking for. Unfortunately, the position I found was nothing more than a secretary position. I felt like my skills could be put to better use and to be honest, I didn’t want to work for 40+ hours a week with a 45 minute drive each way to make under $20,000. My husband is use to me being home, running the family errands and having dinner on the table. I don’t mean to sound snotty, but after not working for 20+ years I have gotten use to being home. Yes, I want to work, but I also want to make it worth my while to do so.</p>

<p>Maybe we should start a CC research business across the country; anyone in?</p>

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<p>Snowball- I am in ;)</p>

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<p>BTW - beautiful wedding cake. Where’s molliebatmit:)?</p>

<p>Work type things I have had fantasies of doing when this current job is over.</p>

<p>Write a book of essays - odd points and issues that sketch out life according to Alumother.
Open a restaurant. - small, serving maybe 5-6 main courses, California comfort food with a lot of taste, tables close together, a lot of regulars, banter.
Become a nanny - imagining that some first-time mom, dying to stay home but unable to, would be so happy to have me show up and say, yes, I too love your baby, yes I have done this before, yes I went to college, yes I can cook you a basic dinner if the baby is sleeping, yes I understand you want to be with this little creature but I will keep him/her safe and there for you.
Go back to being a software product manager - oh well, at least the bills are paid and it would be SO easy…</p>

<p>You can see for me it’s either try to become a professional momish person, let my inner self fly completely unfettered, or just keep on keeping on. That’s because I haven’t thought seriously. These are just the equivalent of the Spirit of Christmas Past’s blobs of mustard.</p>

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<p>If you can find me the right research/consulting gig, you can have my software product management job…</p>

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<p>Is anyone watching Oprah? There is a women on that made “Jibbetz”, little decorative pieces that fit onto Crocs. She sold her home business to the owner of Crocs for 20 million dollars!! I bet she started out in her pj’s!</p>

<p>The rest of the show is about moms who make millions share their secrets.</p>

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<p>Umm… what’s a Croc?</p>

<p>EDIT: Never mind. Shoes. I should have known.</p>

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<p>hmm, snowball, somemom & washdad are in for the research position</p>

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<p>My wife, with a degree in psychology from CMU, did some work in that area for a while early in our marriage, then work in unreleated areas, then became a SAHM after our kid was born. She got back into the working world just a few years ago.</p>

<p>Her big love was animals. So she went to work as a receptionist at our local veterinary clinic. Little by little, she helped in the back as much as she could, with increasing responsibilities as she learned the procedures. Then she became more valuable as a veterinary assistant than as a receptionist, so they hired a new receptionist and she helped with medical procedures. </p>

<p>The veterinary career area means constant “Continuing Education” credits, so she volunteered for as many courses as she could take and the clinic began sending her (at their expense) to specialty courses and she became certified in a couple of areas. </p>

<p>So now she’s working with LOTS of animals.</p>

<p>The big downside of working at a veterinary clinic: We have too many pets at home (all rescues). My wife’s motto: Every Life Should Have Nine Cats!! I pointed out to her that we have had many more than nine cats, but she says the motto means nine cats at the same time!!! All of our dogs are rescues as well.</p>

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<p>Nice, digmedia–
Before the kids came along I worked two jobs–f/t for a national land protection group (lousy pay, but great benefits/medical, etc), then p/t nights and weekends for a local vet. I really did get spoiled because they were two of the most rewarding jobs I could imagine. I think that’s part of the challenge, esp. after having children-- finding a job that feels important to you, and that hopefully pays to boot–</p>

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<p>and me! </p>

<p>I only did the SAHM thing for a few years when DrDrew and his younger brother were toddlers. Then I worked PT in grocery for several years and then moved to wine FT when they were all in school.
I would love to only have to work PT so I could be a Martha Stewart type: cooking, baking, gardening, etc. Oh yeah, and hosting fabulous dinner parties which you would all be invited to. </p>

<p>Better yet, maybe we could win the lottery and then we could travel and do whatever we wanted to all the time. Except first I’d have to start buying lottery tickets :o :p</p>

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<p>Funny, my husband and I like to talk about what we would do if we won the lottery; only problem is, we have never bought a ticket!! It is going to be pretty hard to win without a purchase!</p>

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<p>latetoschool, your post about the car made my day!!</p>