My company CEO posted his childhood story about how his relative asked the "million RM" question,
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
This brings me way back to 1995 when I was 7 and teachers gave us a survey about our ambitions. As a self-evaluated dyslexia child (because back in the 90s, dyslexia was hardly known, and I was just a lazy slow kid), this confused me a lot. I can't even decide what I want the next day, let alone 20 years in the future.
One of the great-known abilities I have was drawing, I love to draw like any normal child would. Most of us learn to draw first before we write. So, I thought, yes, I think I'm destined to draw, I mean, I can't be a doctor or an astronaut? I liked to draw. So, a Draw-er it is (the actual word is actual Pelukis.. sebab saya suka melukis...).
Now, this is when it all started. I've decided I wanted to draw, but I also started to doubt myself, can I actually be a good one? I'm too stupid and slow. But what's written on that survey, surely it'll be in the government system. I cannot turn back and change (Thoughts of a 7yo child). I was anxious.
Then, relatives started to ask about my ambitions. The more I tell them I wanted to become a Pelukis, the more anxious I get. Now, I HAVE to be this person. I HAVE to be a Pelukis. oh man.
I changed school a lot during my primary school years, so I don't really have good friends to talk to about this matter. That is until I found my first besties when I was 11. Only then I knew, that the survey doesn't matter, it's just a survey.
What I'm trying to convey is, while asking a child's ambition might be good for their focus, adults need to explain that it really doesn't matter what they want to be when they grow up, whether they want to focus on what they want to be their whole life, or they can decide to change later on. Imagining back the anxiety I got from thinking that I'm stuck to one thing and one thing only my whole life and all because of a survey that was compulsory to fill by a 7yo.
Now that I'm an adult and a mother, I make sure I remember my childhood day and avoid everything that gave me anxiety before from my kids. I made sure that Mika and Aqil know that they can be whatever they want to be (all good career lah, takkan penyamun pun ibu nk support?), whether it's an astronaut, a car racer, a construction vehicle driver, anything, and NOBODY can stop him from achieving them. I'm sure he will know what his ambitions are, and his parents will be proud nonetheless.
