Should You Worry if Your Kid has No Clue about Their Future Yet?

Should you worry if your 10-year-old has no sense of direction about their future?

FOX’s Lisa Brady reports in this week’s “FOX on Family”:

Some parents start planning for college as soon the baby’s born. So when should kids start thinking about their future?:

(Dr. Cadieux) “I think you know talking about careers is just something you kind of do just throughout a child’s life into adulthood.”

Pediatric psychologist Doctor Adelle Cadieux at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital says the conversation about options and opportunities can start early.

But a four-year-old doesn’t need to pick a career path:

(Dr. Cadieux) “We don’t need to do any pressure, instead when we think about our young kids, you know we’re gonna be introducing them to the ideas about careers through play and through reading.”

By middle school they may be ready for more detail about the actual steps, but also encouragement to explore:

(Dr. Cadieux) “They might show that interest for a little while. But then they get exposed to something else or they learn something new and they’re like ‘wow maybe this is interesting and I want to do this’.”

Doctor Cadieux also says giving kids more responsibility as they get older helps them become more independent, so they’ll be more comfortable when it’s time to run their own lives.

With FOX on Family, I’m Lisa Brady.