Posts Tagged ‘parenting’

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about the dry cleaning industry, with the latest news about how the economy, environmental concerns and changing consumer habits are affecting it.

But what really grabbed my attention was the number of jobs referred to in the article. I counted eighteen. There are probably many more considering that the article reports 24,124 dry cleaning and non-coin-operated laundry establishments in the U.S. alone.

Here are the ones I noted:

1. Dry Cleaning Store Chain Operator
2. Dry Cleaning Store Manager
3. Pressing Machine Operator
4. Garment Sorter
5. Seamstress/Tailors
6. Forensic Accountant & Business Advisor
7. Market Researcher
8. Consumer Products Maker
9. Consumer Products Company Spokesperson
10. Valet
11. Store/Facilities Designer
12. Store Design Tester
13. Environment Protection Agency Representative
14. Director of Technical Services – National Dry Cleaners Association
15. Chief Executive Officer - Dry cleaning & Laundry Institute
16. Director of Public Affairs - Consumer Federation of America
17. Professor of Fiber Science
18.  Dry Cleaning Machine Operators

What a creative way to learn about different jobs in various industries. You should try it as you read the newspaper, a book or online articles.  Your knowledge of the working world will impress everybody!

Learn how to get careerwise on an everyday basis and have fun with career exploration by visiting www.GetCareerWise.com.

Summer isn’t over, but many professionals are already hard at work getting school classrooms, campuses, curriculum and other resources, supplies and services ready for the new school year.

Can you name 10 of them? [There are lots of hints in the sentence above!]

To make this fun, challenge a friend or family member to a timed race to see who can create the longest list of back-to-school jobs. Ready, set, go!

Afterwards, check your list and see if there are any jobs that sound interesting to you. By researching them you will go back to school a little more careerwise!

The CareerWise™ Grow Up. Get a Job. Career Exploration Workbook supports National Standards in Career Curriculum and comes with a free Teaching Guide. For details, visit www.GetCareerWise.com. Volume discounts provided. PO’s accepted.

Kids always get asked the question, but how many have an answer? Or know how to find the answer that is right for them? 

 To many parents’ frustration, kids frequently invest a lot of time, hard work and educational dollars in a degree or expensive training program only to return home lamenting, “I don’t think that’s what I really want to do.”

What a shame.  Especially in this economy with rising education costs.

That’s why career exploration should go hand in hand with career preparation. 

 And, why kids are never too young to start looking at the world around them with ‘ careerwise’ eyes!

Adults can help kids think about their futures and what they want to be when they grow up using creativity, imagination and a lot of common sense.

As a first step, just remember,

•  Every single thing any of us use, need or enjoy on a daily basis has many jobs attached to it. Think about it: even a toothbrush must be researched, designed, tested, marketed, sold, transported, stocked and merchandised. That process reflects a lot of diverse jobs!

• Every one of us has certain natural talents and abilities that can be honed into ‘marketable’ skills. Can your child talk you into anything with conviction and charm? Maybe he’s a born salesman!  Can your daughter produce scrapbooks that are works of art? Maybe she’d love to be a fabric designer or architectural space planner.

• Objects, activities, events or relationships that make you extraordinarily happy or self-satisfied on a regular basis  – taking care of animals, helping others, being outdoors, solving problems, cataloguing family photos online, cooking –  can be connected to a career option.

•  Curiosity is a wonderful thing. Encourage it in your kids. Don’t get frustrated by lots of questioning, rather channel it into exploration and research.  No topic is too obscure.

 “I don’t know how they carved the freeway through the mountains. Let’s try to find out who did it and what equipment they needed.”

 “Why are people so concerned about the bee population? I think there are lots of reasons we need bees; let’s go learn about them at the botanical garden.”

“You’re right; neon-colored zinc oxide is a fun sunscreen-I wonder who thought of it? Let’s go online and do a search together.”

Career exploration starts an important journey of self-discovery for kids. It helps them uncover talents, explore interests and develop confidence about their place in the world and how they can contribute to it in the future.

 So get the dialogue going. Open eyes. Listen. Be curious. Mentor. Nurture. Develop important career and life skills together. Help your kids get careerwise.

       “I love products that make a difference and yours truly do!”       Publisher, Learning Magazine.

CareerWise™ materials can be used at home, in the classroom, in youth groups or to support career curriculum and workforce development initiatives. . Visit:  www.GetCareerWise.com

Do you think career exploration is a topic solely for the classroom or guidance counselor’s office?  Or that you couldn’t lead a valuable discussion about the employment world without help from a teacher?

I hope not!

Because you can help prepare and excite kids about joining the workforce, equipped with relevant and universal skills, using your own career wisdom and hands-on life experiences.

For example, you know how important the following values and attributes are. It’s never too early to start helping your kids understand them too. They are the building blocks for success in any professional or life pursuit.

Have fun discussing each word, concept and value.  Give examples, tell stories, relate them to people you know or experiences you’ve had. Ask other people what these words mean to them.

Think about people in the news and characters in literature or film who represent the good, the bad or the interesting. Be creative!

Add to the list. What else is important for success and personal fulfillment in the work-a-day world? Share your additions with us. We’ll keep the list growing and give you the credit!

1. integrity
2. responsibility
3. collaboration
4. accountability
5. creativity
6. punctuality
7. flexibility
8. team spirit
9. vision
10. patience
11. honesty
12. pride
13. humor
14. humility
15. perseverance

Our award-winning CareerWise Grow Up. Get a Job. Career Exploration workbook is filled with other stimulating kids-to-careers activities and exercises that can be used by families, for home schooling, in classrooms and in After School Programs. It comes with a Free Teaching Guide.  It is also an ideal give-away for corporations participating in workforce development programs.

There have been some wonderful stories going around  lately about just how hip and active today’s grandparents are.

Youthful, energetic and ready to try new things, they also frequently have more time to spend with their grandkids than working parents do.

Also,  many grandparents today are very tech savvy. They know their way around Facebook, Skype, texting, tweets, emails, YouTube and all the other ways kids like to stay in touch.

So even if grandparents and their grandkids are scattered geographically, they can build strong bonds. Communications can be fun and very, very valuable. Especially if grandparents want to help their kids develop important life and career skills.

One story in the Wall Street Journal recently relayed how grandparents on an extended cruise in Europe sent their granddaughter two emails per day. One was a personal message and one was to share with her classmates in geography class. The classroom email contained either information about the latest port of call, a geography quiz, photographs, or something else instructional and interesting. The teacher put up a map and the class had a great time tracking the cruise and learning about new parts of the world. Isn’t that a great idea?

Grandparents can add a career awareness component to their communications as well. The more often kids are shown a connection between their school subjects and real world opportunities, the more motivation they will have to study hard and graduate with marketable skills.

Cruising grandparents could also share information about who helped them plan their cruise and the transportation, healthcare, hospitality, entertainment and other professionals they’ve met along the way. You get the idea.

Here are some other ways grandparents can become career mentors:

1. Share photos you take of people working at jobs you think are interesting, exciting, important, or uncommon.

 

2. Share news articles, profiles and interviews with interesting professionals and share why you found them of interest.

 

3. Offer to visit your grandchild’s school during or outside of career week activities to offer help, advice and mentoring about your areas of expertise. Or to give hard-working kids a pat on the back and individual encouragement.

 

4. Take your grandchild ‘behind the scenes’ at a business around town. See a fish market in the early morning, watch lifeguards set up their towers and emergency vehicles, visit a farm or ranch where local produce grows; visit the local zoo, aquarium or opera house for a backstage tour.

 

5. If you live far apart and aren’t tech savvy, send postcards from your community. In addition to ‘wish you were here,’ add a note about the civic leaders, architects, city planners, educators, entertainers or business people in the area who make it such a fun, safe or interesting place to live.

 

6. When your grandkids come to visit, sprinkle your conversations with fun and motivating observations about the work-a-day world. Help counteract negativity about the employment stats that are making headlines. You know things will change dramatically by the time your youngsters are ready to enter the employment world. And there are still millions of people out there working at jobs they love!

 

7. If your grandchild has a particular love – soccer, ice cream, movies, dogs, etc – make a point of talking about all the professionals connected to that product, service or business. Make it fun and interesting. Do research together. Make it like a treasure hunt.

 

8. Biographies and autobiographies are a wonderful way to introduce kids to people with interesting careers and/or career paths. If you have favorites, share them. If you volunteer now, tell them why you find it rewarding and how your career path led you to want to keep contributing.

 

9. Find creative ways to link what is going on in your life with career choices: ‘ The nurse in my doctor’s office told me she specialized in Geriatric Nursing and just loves it’. Or “We sat with the captain of the cruise ship. He’s had a fascinating life.’ or “I have a new golf club that makes a big difference in my swing. I wonder who designed it?”

 

10. Career-related gifts have long-term value and can be shared in the classroom.  Pick one that promotes important dialogues.  Listen carefully to your grandkid’s dream about their future. Use what you hear to motivate them in school so they understand what it will take to make their dreams come true.

Remember, nurturing and mentoring kids so they develop important career and life skills can be done by all of us. It is very rewardng to help them become careerwise!

For creative career exploration resources, including a fascinating poster with 1001 Job Titles visit www.GetCareerWise.com. Or download ’ Sophie & Her Fairy Godmentor, a tale of career exploration & self-discovery’ on your Kindle. It provides a great perpective on thinking big about the future!