How to help your child choose the right career, without being overbearing

Alisa Weinstein didn’t expect to start talking to her daughter about potential careers when Mia was only four years old.

But when the opening presented itself, Weinstein took it.

They were at Target, and Mia was begging for yet another tube of sparkly pink lip gloss.

“Get a job and pay for it yourself,” Weinstein told her daughter, joking.

Saying those words, though, gave her an idea. “That’s what one would call a ‘lightbulb moment.’ I’m 99 per cent sure I actually slapped my forehead.”

Weinstein, who lives in Potomac, Maryland, went home and scribbled her idea on a sticky note: Instead of paying her daughter an allowance to do chores around the house, she would pay her to test drive real careers.

“Her first ‘career’ was her dad’s: market researcher,” Weinstein said.

“She made a list of 15 friends and family members and asked them to choose between three flavors of ice cream... She presented her results to me and I paid her.”

Mia learned about interesting jobs and gained an appreciation for money.

Weinstein learned that other people were searching for ways to motivate their kids around careers and finances.

So she interviewed nearly 50 professionals, broke their jobs down into 1,000 child-sized tasks, and wrote a work book called Earn It, Learn It.

Weinstein’s concept works best with children under age 12, but there are plenty of ways to encourage older children to explore career options, as well.

Here are several guidelines for helping children find the career that will best suit them: